LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

f,^^ 

Chap, Copyright No, 



UiNiTED STATES OF AMERICA. 



The Golden Passional 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR 



THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE 

AND OTHER SERMONS 

i2mo, cloth, 581 pages 



^FOR CHRIST'S CROWN" 

AND OTHER SERMONS 

i2mo, cloth, 370 pages 



WILBUR B. KETCHAM, Publisher 
2 Cooper Union - - New York 



The Golden Passional 



AND OTHER SERMONS 



THE LIBRARY 
OF CONGRESS 

WASHINGTON 



DAVID JAMES BURRELL, D.D. 

Pastor of the Collegiate Church at Fifth Avenue and 2pth Street, 
(J^Cew York 



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CO 



A^ ^t 



NEW YORK 

WILBUR B. KETCHAM 

2 Cooper Union 



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Copyright, 1897, 
By Wilbur B. Ketcham. 



CONTENTS 



The Golden Passional - - - 

The Sere and Yellow Leaf 

Ye Serve the Lord Christ 

Progress in Old Paths 

The Mission of America to the World 

Search the Scriptures 

John the Baptist _ > _ 

The Outside of the Platter 

The Kenosis - . - - 

In no Wise . . - - 

Luther and the Reformation 

The Star of Bethlehem 

One Thing - - . _ 

Cain . _ . _ _ 

The Eloquent Silence of Jesus 

L In the Porches of Bethesda - 

II. In the Porches of Bethesda 

Wanted : A Newspaper 

Fishers of Men - 

Behold, Thy King Cometh Unto Thee 

Citizen George Washington 

The Sign of the Prophet Jonas - 



page 

5 

i8 
27 

37 
48 
60 

71 
81 

91 
loi 
no 

121 
132 
141 

161 
172 
183 
197 
207 
220 
234 



CONTENTS. 

To Thine Own Self Be True - 
The Creed of the Mount - 
The Church - . _ 

In the Fields at Eventide - 



PAGE 

263 

277 



"Shibboleth" - . . _ _ _ 286 

"Son, Remember" - - - _ . 206 

Sunday Pleasures - - . - . 306 

Our Confidant - . _ - - 318 

Vandals in the Temple - - . . 320 



THE GOLDEN PASSIONAL. 

" When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he 
shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his 
hand."— IsA. liii., lo. 

The people called Isaiah " a bird of ill-omen," be- 
cause he denounced their sins. He lived in degener- 
ate times. The nation was enervated by wealth and 
luxury. The altars of Baal smoked on every hill top. 
People sauntered to the groves to mingle in the 
orgies of the unclean Astarte. A form of worship 
was kept up in Jehovah's temple, but it was purely 
external. The hands that ministered at the altar 
were "full of blood." Then Isaiah stood by the 
pillars of the temple, and cried, " Hear, O heavens, 
and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken: I 
have nourished and brought up children, and they 
have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his 
owner and the ass his master's crib ; but Israel doth 
not know, my people doth not consider. Ah, sinful 
nation, a people laden with iniquity ; they have for- 
saken the Lord ! " 

Then retribution. Plague, famine, hostile incur- 
sions and spoliations to the very gates of the city. 
" Unmerciful disaster followed fast and followed fas- 
ter." Again the prophet stood by the temple pillars, 
and cried, "Why should ye be stricken anymore? 

(5) 



6 THE GOLDEN PASSIONAL. 

The whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint. 
From the sole of the foot even unto the crown of the 
head there is no soundness, but wounds and bruises 
and putrefying sores. Your country is desolate, your 
cities are burned ; and the daughter of Zion is left as 
a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of 
cucumbers. Come, now, and let us reason together, 
saith the Lord : though your sins be as scarlet, they 
shall be as white as snow; though they be red like 
crimson, they shall be as wool ! " 

Then the scene changes. The Miserere becomes a 
Gloria. The prophet presents a series of panoramic 
visions, beginning with the eternal generation of di- 
vine love and ending in the consummation of redeem- 
ing grace. 

The first of the visions introduces us into the 
councils of the ineffable Trinity, where the Persons 
of the Godhead are represented as moved and 
troubled by the cry of the distressed people and say- 
ing, one to another, " Whom shall we send, and who 
will go for us ? " A voice replies, *' Here am I, send 
me." 

Then in the stable at Bethlehem. A cradle scene. 
Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in 
flesh ! The Son of God is bound with swathmg 
bands and laid in the manger. The world knows not 
that its Redeemer has come ; but the key-note of the 
gladsome song is struck : " For unto us a child is 
born, unto us a Son is given, and his name shall be 
called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The 
Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace ! " 

Again, at the crossing of the ways. The Lord of 
redemption stands like a merchant vending his wares, 
and crying to the passers-by, " Ho, every one that 



THE GOLDEN PASSIONAL. 7 

thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no 
money ; come ye, buy, and eat ; yea, come, buy wine 
and milk without money and without price. Incline 
your ear and come unto me : hear, and your soul 
shall live." 

Again, on the mountains of Israel : " He feedeth 
his flock like a shepherd ; he gathereth the lambs 
with his arm ; he carrieth them in his bosom, and 
gently leadeth those that are with young." 

Then on the heights of the Jordan. A man of war 
approaches in the distance, travelling in the great- 
ness of his strength. " Who is this," cries the pro- 
phet, "that Cometh from Edom with garments dyed 
in blood ?" *' I, that speak in righteousness, mighty 
to save." ** And wherefore art thou red in thine ap- 
parel?" "I have trodden the wine-press alone, and 
of the people there was none with me. I looked and 
there was none to help ; and I wondered that there 
was none to uphold ; therefore mine arm hath 
brought salvation." 

Again, at the temple gate. The king draws near ; 
the voice of his herald is heard: " Prepare ye the 
way of the Lord, make straight in the desert an 
highway for our God." The prophet responds, '' O 
Zion, get thee up into the high mountain ; O Jerusa- 
lem, lift up thy voice with strength, and be not afraid. 
Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!" 

And finally on Via Dolorosa. A mysterious figure 
is seen borne down under an intolerable burden. His 
face is marred more than any man's. He hath no 
form nor comeliness. There is no beauty that we 
should desire him. There are scourge marks on his 
back. He walks like a pariah, bending under his bur- 
den, and the multitudes on either side hide their 



8 THE GOLDEN PASSIONAL. 

faces from him. He is despised and they esteem him 
not. He groans under his burden and pours out his 
soul unto death. 

Thus the series of prophetic visions ends in the 
Golden Passional.* It is a foregleam, clear as the 
morning star before the sun, of the Lord's own say- 
ing, " God so loved the world that he gave his only 
begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, should 
not perish, but have everlasting life." With refer- 
ence to this vision there are certain enquiries which 
suggest themselves, and which it behooves us to 
answer as sinners seeking to return to God. 

I. Who is this mysterious burden bearer^ and how 
does his strange labor concern us ? 

It was seven hundred years after this vision when 
Philip, the evangelist, heard the voice of the Spirit 
saying: " Go down to Gaza by the desert road." 
At the time a great revival was going on in Samaria 
and this man seemed necessary to that work. But 
God's voice was ultimate law to him. So he arose, 
without questioning or murmuring, and journeyed 
down the desert road. Staff in hand, he trudged on, 
wondering why God should have imposed this task 
upon him. He heard the rumbling of a chariot 
behind him, and presently the chancellor of Candace, 
the Queen of Ethiopia, rode by. He had an open 
scroll upon his knees and was reading aloud from 
this Golden Passional. 

Philip heard him: ^^ Jle is despised and rejected of 
men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and we 
hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised^ and we 



* This is the name given by Polycarp to Isaiah's prophecy 
of the vicarious pain of Christ. 



THE GOLDEN PASSIONAL. 9 

esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our grief s^ and car- 
ried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken^ smitten 
of Gody and afflicted. But he was wounded for our trans- 
gressionSy he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastise- 
ment of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we 
are healed. He was oppressed and he was afflicted^ yet he 
opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaugh- 
ter^ and as a sheep before her shearers is dumby so he 
openeth not his mouth. And he made his grave with the 
wicked and with the rich in his death; because he had done 
no violence^ neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it 
pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: 
when thou shall make his soul an offering for sin^ he shall 
see his seed^ he shall prolong his days^ and the pleasure of 
the Lord shall prosper in his hand.'' 

And the voice said to Philip, " Go near and join thy- 
self to this chariot." He hurried on and spoke to the 
Ethiopian: ** Understandest thou what thou readest ?" 
" How can I," he answered, "except some one shall 
teach me ?" He gave his hand to the wayfarer and 
helped him into the chariot. Then Philip expounded 
to him the prophecy of sorrow. And the chancellor 
asked, '* I pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet this ? 
Of himself or of some other man ?" And Philip told 
him that the mysterious burden-bearer was none other 
than the long-prophesied and hoped-for Messiah, who 
by his vicarious suffering, should deliver the world 
from its sin. As they rode on, they heard the rippling 
of a fountain and the Ethiopian said : " Here is water. 
What doth hinder me to be baptized ? " And Philip 
said, " If thou believest with all thine heart thou 
mayest." He answered " I believe that Jesus is the 
Christ of God." And when they were come up from 
the water the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, 



lO THE GOLDEN PASSIONAL. 

and the chancellor of Queen Candace went on his 
way rejoicing. He had found the great life-giving 
truth. He had discovered the personality of the 
central figure of the Passional. O friends, he who 
has discovered that, has learned the life-giving power 
of truth. He who finds Christ, finds all. 

n. And what is this burden? 

It is the sin of the world. The soul of this burden- 
bearer was made an offering for sin. 

Sin is a tremendous fact. Not sin in the abstract, 
but in the concrete; your sin and mine. There is not 
a man or woman among us who does not feel the 
shame and torture of it. Paint it as black as you 
may, our hearts and consciences must say " Yea " and 
** Amen " to the indictment. 

*' The other shape, 
If shape it might be call'd that shape had none 
Distinguishable in member, joint or limb; 
Or substance might be call'd that shadow seem'd, 
For each seemed either; black it stood as night, 
Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell, 
And shook a dreadful dart; and from his seat 
The monster, moving onward, came as fast 
With horrid strides; hell trembled as he strode." 

And Death also is a tremendous fact — death 
following sin as surely as the night the day. We may 
reason as we will against the truth of retribution, we 
cannot dispossess ourselves of a profound belief in 
the law of moral cause and effect. A liberal writer 
has said, "We have managed in the progress of these 
last times to fill hell up." O, would that it were 
possible ! But the great gulf is fixed; fixed not merely 
by a divine decree recorded in Holy Writ, but also in 
the reason of man. We know that beneath the awful 



THE GOLDEN PASSIONAL. II 

words that fell from the merciful lips of Christ 
respecting the outer darkness, the worm that gnaws 
and gnaws and never dies, the fire that burns and 
burns and is never quenched, there is an irrefutable 
truth : " The soul that sinneth it shall die ! " 

*' There is a death whose pang 
Outlives this fleeting breath. 
O, what eternal horrors hang 
Around the second death ! " 

And then the problem. On the one hand : How 
shall a man be just before his God ? On the other : 
How shall God be just and yet the justifier of 
the ungodly ? How to punish the sin, and yet save 
the sinner; how to vindicate the law and yet deliver 
the man who has violated it ; this is the question. 
The only answer is in Substitution. Here is the key 
of the problem. The innocent must suffer for the 
guilty, the just for the unjust. Here is the rationale 
of every sacrifice that ever was laid upon an altar. 
There is no meaning in the death of all the lambs and 
bullocks which have been offered the world over since 
the beginning of time, except as they point to sub- 
stitution. The innocent for the guilty; the just for 
the unjust; the Lamb slain from the foundation of 
the world. 

We observe a clear suggestion of this truth in 
the Greek fable of Prometheus, who was chained to 
the rock of the Caucasus with the vulture tearing 
at his vitals, crying out in his pain, "I must needs 
endure this until one of the gods perchance shall bear 
it for me." 

The fulfillment of all such hopes and reasonings 
is found on Calvary. Here Jesus, the only begotten 



12 THE GOLDEN PASSIONAL. 

Son of the Father, expiates the world's sin in vica 
rious pain. Justice and love are met together, right- 
eousness and peace have kissed each other. The law- 
is satisfied and the guilty are delivered. God is just 
and can justify the ungodly : for the soul of Jesus has 
been made an offering for sin. 

There is a profound significance in that word 
" soul " in this connection. The pain of our Redeemer 
was not mere physical pain. The driven nails, the 
fevered pulse^ the gangrene, were mere accessories of 
a deeper and more unspeakable anguish. Why else 
did this sufferer shrink and tremble in view of his 
approaching death ? Have the martyrs been braver 
than he? Alice Driver, drawing near to Smithfield, 
touched the chain and cried, "This is a goodly neck- 
erchief ; God be praised for it ! " John Bradford, 
facing the fagots said, " Now shall I ascend in a fiery 
chariottosup with my Lord in his kingdom this night." 
Archbishop Cranmer, who had recanted and then 
recovered himself, thrust his right hand into the flame 
and cried, " O, thou unworthy hand, burn first; I will 
be avenged on thee for subscribing to that damnable 
scroll." Castilia, standing on a dizzy height from 
which she was to be thrust to her death, said to her 
executioners, "Cast my body down if you will; my 
soul cannot fall, but like an eagle shall ascend to 
God." Brave martyrs these who, smiling and trium- 
phant, faced their death! 

Not so Jesus. He shrank from the purple draught, 
saying, " O, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup 
pass from me ! " He cried under the chill shadow of 
the cross, "Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I 
say; Father, save me from this hour." Let it be re- 
membered, however, that the physical pain of Jesus 



THE GOLDEN PASSIONAL. l3 

was but an inferior factor in his awful sacrifice; he 
gave his soul an offering for sin. The noble army 
of martyrs kept their consciences sweet and pure. 
The fire, the gleaming axe might shrivel their flesh 
and rack their bones, but could not reach their 
inmost souls which were possessed by a peace that 
passeth understanding. No such peace was pos- 
sible to Jesus; for in exchanging places with those 
for whom he died, he took into his own heart 
and conscience their conviction of sin. He so ex- 
changed personalities with those for whom he died, 
that he lost his own consciousness of innocency and 
felt himself the chief of sinners in their stead. He 
made their iniquity his own; so it is written, "He 
was made a curse for us;" and again, *' He that knew 
no sin was made sin for us that we might be made 
the righteousness of God in him." 

The cry of Cain, as he looked upon his red hands, 
was, " My burden is greater than I can bear." The 
lament of David was, " Have mercy upon me, O God, 
for I have sinned and done evil in thy sight." And 
Paul cried out, " O, wretched man that I am! Who 
shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" Thus 
all sinners, honest with themselves, have been mourn- 
ing from the beginning until now. Lay all this la- 
mentation upon the heart of Jesus the Christ. Heap 
the guilt of all sinners, guilt on guilt, mountain on 
mountain, pyramid on pyramid, Ossa on Pelion, and 
lay it upon the heart and conscience of him who 
tasted death for every man. Was ever sorrow like unto 
his sorrow? Now we can understand why nerve and 
sinew shook and quivered in view of Calvary. Now 
we are beginning to understand somewhat of the 
anguish that rang through that bitter cry in the 



14 THE GOLDEN PASSIONAL. 

awful night, ''^ Eloi, Elo'i, lama sabachthamiV* He 
descended into hell for us. 

III. One more inquiry : What compensation was 
there for all this ? 

" Work without hope draws nectar in a sieve, 
And hope without an object cannot live." 

The farmer is encouraged to till the field and scatter 
the grain because he looks for a harvest. So it is 
written of Jesus, " For the hope set before him, he 
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now 
set down at the right hand of God." 

The promised reward was to be in part a glorious 
triumph over death and a perpetuation of his influ- 
ence among men. " When he shall give his soul an 
offering for sin, he shall prolong his days." The cen- 
turion saw the pallor on the dead features of Jesus 
and said, " He is dead." The Rabbis said, " He will 
trouble us no more; he is dead." The disciples 
looked on with unspeakable grief, saying, "V/e hoped 
it was he that should deliver Israel ; but alas, he is 
dead." And at that moment all heaven was ringing 
with the cry, ** He that was dead liveth, and is alive 
forever more, and hath the keys of death and hell!" 
The angels and archangels knew when the tense 
and fevered sinews quivered for the last time, that 
the life of that frail body, like the tenant who closes 
the door of a forsaken house behind him, went forth 
to resume the glory which he had with the Father 
before the world was. 

"And he shall see his seed." Here is the promise 
of posterity. It was written in prophecy, " He shall 
be cut off in the midst of his days; and who shall de- 
clare his generation?" His was to be the deepest 



THE GOLDEN PASSIONAL. 15 

sorrow known to an Oriental, that of childlessness. 
Nay, not so, he was to be the first-born among many- 
brethren, for by the travail of his soul he should bring 
a great multitude into the glorious liberty of the 
children of God. He saw some of them already; 
John, Peter, and the Magdalene; others were coming, 
Saul of Tarsus, Lydia, the seller of purple, and the 
chancellor of Queen Candace; more still, three thou- 
sand on the Day of Pentecost; multitudes more, for 
the Church shall be an ever-increasing company from 
age to age; an army of crusaders, ministers and mis- 
sionaries of the cross, souls enquiring the way of 
everlasting life. '* Lift up thine eyes round about 
and see; all that gather themselves together, they 
come to thee." Listen to the footfall; the drome- 
daries of Midian and Ephah are drawing near. Hark 
to the rustle of wings: "Who are these that fly as a 
cloud, and as doves do fly to their windows?" See 
yonder the waving of banners: the kings of the earth 
are bringing their glory and honor unto him. 

"And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in 
his hand." What is the pleasure of the Lord ? The 
deliverance of this world from sin. The gathering 
in of the multitude who have been in bondage under 
sin. This is the mighty work for which Jehovah 
made bare his arm. Who are the three mighties of 
this world ? Caesar, Alexander and Napoleon. They 
all sought universal empire. Here lies Caesar, at the 
foot of Pompey's pillar and none so poor to do him 
reverence, dead ; write on his gravestone. Failure. 
Here lies Alexander under his table, dead as the result 
of a drunken revel; write upon his gravestone. Fail- 
ure. Here lies Napoleon under the dome of the In- 



l6 THE GOLDEN PASSIONAL. 

valides, with his battle flags around him ; write 
upon his tombstone, Failure. 

" But yesterday their names were as mighty on the earth ; 
To-day, 'tis what ?" 

But there is one name above them all. One who 
also sought for universal empire, and he won it. 
Write above the superscription on the cross this 
word, Success. The pleasure of Jehovah prospers in 
his hand. He sees of the travail of his soul and is 
satisfied. On his transcendent throne he sits and 
looks toward the eastern gates of heaven, and the 
multitude of the redeemed are thronging in. He 
looks toward the western gates, and the multitudes 
are thronging in. He looks toward the southern and 
northern gates, and multitudes on multitudes are 
thronging in. And as they cross the threshold of the 
kingdom, all alike join the universal tribute of praise, 
" Thou art worthy to receive honor and glory and 
power and dominion, for thou hast redeemed us out 
of every nation and kingdom and tribe, and made us 
to be kings and priests unto God." 

One closing word: It is for ourselves to appro- 
priate, by faith, the benefits of this glorious work. So 
far as our personal salvation is concerned, the redemp- 
tion wrought by Christ will be of no avail, except as 
we believe in him. Faith is the hand of the heart 
stretched forth to receive what Christ would give us. 
If we are willing, the benefits of the great redemption 
shall be placed to our credit; if not, the Lord respects 
our right to reject him and bear the burden for 
ourselves. When Handel was engaged upon the 
Oratorio of the Messiah, he was found with his face 
resting upon the table, his form shaken with sobs. 



THE GOLDEN PASSIONAL. I7 

Before him lay the score open at the place where it 
is written, "* He was despised , he was rejected.'* 
Alas! that we should read the story of the passion so 
lightly. Alas, that he should be despised, and that 
we, for whom he died, should esteem him not. Let 
us take heed that we are not among the multitude 
who stood on Calvary with cold eyes '* beholding ; " 
or with those who, as the great burden-bearer passes 
by, hide their faces from him. Let us receive the 
proffer of his grace with thankfulness. For if we sing 
the Golden Passional here, we shall join in the hal- 
lelujahs of the kingdom of God. 



THE SERE AND YELLOW LEAF. 

" We all do fade as a leaf."— Isa. Ixiv. 6. 

An old proverb says, " The wise man's eyes are in 
his head, but the fool walketh in darkness." The 
habit of observation is better than university culture. 
It was a great day for the world when Galileo saw 
the swinging chandelier in Pisa Cathedral — saw, pon- 
dered, and drew his conclusion. It was another great 
day when the lad Isaac Newton lay in his mother's 
orchard, watching the apples that fell from the trees 
— watching and reasoning. It is such as these — 
whose eyes are in their heads — that roll the world 
around, and always further into the light. 

It was fortunate for us that Luther knew how to 
observe. He went down to Rome on a sacred pil- 
grimage, and all the results of his monastic studies 
and the convictions of his former life were overturned 
by what he heard and saw around him. " I would 
not have taken a hundred thousand florins for the 
information I picked up." A hundred thousand 
florins ! The information he picked up in the Papal 
city on that visit gave propulsion to the Reformation ; 
and the world is largely indebted to it for civil and 
ecclesiastical freedom. 

The wise man need not go to the university for 
information. All things are full of suggestion for 

(x8) 



THE SERE AND YELLOW LEAF. IQ 

him. ** There are so many voices, and none of them 
is without signification." He gathers his science from 
common things that lie along his path. He finds his 
theology written all across the starlit skies. For 
him there are " sermons in stones, tongues in trees, 
books in the running brooks, and good in every- 
thing." 

The Greatest of preachers was a close student of 
nature and common life. He found the themes of his 
discourse in clouds and flowers, the rising sun, the 
whistling wind, the fowls of the air, a sower scattering 
seed. In these he found helpful suggestion as to duty, 
and the sublime truths that reach forth to the eternal 
ages. 

The autumn is here; *'the melancholy days have 
come, the saddest of the year." But why melan- 
choly ? As we go about our tasks the autumn leaves 
lie in our path and flutter down about us. If we will, 
each shall be a silent messenger from above, and 
their word shall bring good cheer and enheartenment 
to us. 

I. The first lesson is in Beaux Arts. We are 
living in a beautiful world adorned by a kind Fa- 
ther for us. 

" This life, sae far's I understand. 
Is a* enchanted fairy land, 
Where pleasure is the magic wand 

That, wielded right, 
Mak's hours like minutes, hand in hand, 
Dance by fu' light ! " 

A few days ago I made a brief journey on the 
railway. The forests through which we swept were 
a panorama of indescribable beauty. They were car- 
peted with velvet and tapestried with Tyrian purple; 



20 THE SERE AND YELLOW LEAF. 

decorated with chaplets and garlands, festoons of 
scarlet vines, hangings of Gobelin with tassels of 
gold. No artist could paint, no poet could sing it. 
The heart alone can celebrate such beauty with an 
uplift of devotion. O the riches of the wisdom and 
power of God ! 

Ours is indeed a beautiful world to live in. But 
there is a better world awaiting us. It was my good 
fortune once to be at Holyrood Palace when prepara- 
tions were being made for the coming of the queen. 
All the rooms in that historic edifice were arrayed in 
their best ; but the throne room — when we came to 
that, we were allowed only to stand at the threshold 
and gaze wonderingly on its magnificence. The 
world in which we are living is beautiful indeed 
to an appreciative soul, but after all it is only the 
ante-chamber of the king. What must the throne 
room be ! 

II. Our next lesson from the falling leaves is in 
Chronology ^ or the science of time. Temfus ftigit^ we 
lightly say ; but there is no more impressive truth 
than this: ''Time flies." The man in " As You Like 
It," who moralized about time is usually called a fool. 
But there was naught foolish in his moralizing. He 
drew a dial from his poke, and said ; 

" It is ten o'clock : 
Thus may we see," quoth he, " how the world wags : 
'T is but an hour ago since it was nine ; 
And after one hour more 'twill be eleven ; 
And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe, 
And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot ; 
And thereby hangs a tale." 

The tale that hangs thereby is this : " Whatsoever 
thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might ; for 



THE SERE AND YELLOW LEAF. 21 

there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor 
wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest." If you 
have prayers to make, pray now. If you have wrongs 
to undo, old grudges to wipe out, sins to atone for, 
delay not. If you have work to do for the Master, 
there is no time to waste ; to-day is yours, to-mor- 
row is God's. 

Our time here is probationary. We are building 
character that shall endure forever. We are serving 
an apprenticeship for eternal usefulness. The deeds 
done in the body shall confront us in the great day 
of reckoning. A certain Phoenician, having deter- 
mined to remove to Rome, thought it wise to send 
his possessions before him. He chartered a fleet of 
transports, and one by one he loaded them with grain 
and precious ore and household wares. On the last 
vessel that sailed, he was himself a passenger ; and 
on reaching Ostia, the seaport of the Imperial City, 
he found his fleet awaiting him. It is a parable 
Each day is as a vessel sent forth to the eternal 
shores. Alas, that so many of our ships should carry 
naught but ballast ! All shall meet us again at Ostia 
Our life in eternity will be what we now make it. 

III. Our next lesson is in Senescence; the art of 
growing old, of growing old gracefully and well. 
We look upon the aged with compassion ; pitying 
"the sorrows of a poor old man." The poet Holmes 
was thus minded when he wrote : 

" But now he walks the street^ 
And he looks at all he meets, 

So forlorn ; 
And he shakes his feeble head, 
That it seems as if he said, 

* They are gone ! ' 



22 THE SERE AND YELLOW LEAF. 

" And if I should chance to be 
The last leaf upon the tree 

In the Spring, 
Let them smile, as I do now. 
At the old forsaken bough 

Where I cling." 

The aged, wearing their " silver crowns as a 
diadem of praise," should know two things well : 

Y'lrst, How to hold on. Our usefulness is not over 
when life passes its meridian. Caesar planned his 
victorious campaigns when he was past fifty years of 
age. Herschel discovered Uranus after he was four- 
score. And John Milton, who had written his early 
years away in the tripping music of L' Allegro, did 
not find his holiest mission until, as he tells us, the 
vapors of youth were past, and the veil of blindness 
was drawn across his eyes. Then he saw the visions 
of Paradise Lost, such visions as never came to fleshly 
sight. His soul rose from the earth like an eagle in 
its flight, and kindled its eyes at the full midday 
beam. Gladstone and Bismarck are the greatest 
names in the world of diplomacy ; and both of them 
wear the silver crown. 

Then second, JIow to let go. There is nothing sad- 
der than to see a man clinging to "the old forsaken 
bough " when the autumn call has come. Why, 
what is there in this world of pain and labor and 
weary decrepitude to hold a soul for which the 
golden city waits? Old Simeon in the temple had 
lingered long in hope to see the Christ. One day a 
mother entered the temple with an infant in her arms. 
The time had come; the gates of glory were on the 
instant thrown wide open and the old man sang: 
" Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace; for 



THE SERE AND YELLOW LEAF. 23 

mine eyes have seen thy salvation ! " That was as it 
should be. When hope ceases, welcome the life of 
glad fruition and everlasting youth. So John in 
Patmos, last of the twelve, vainly longing to mingle 
in the busy life of those who, beyond the waters that 
washed the desert island, were facing persecutions 
for the Lord's sake, heard the call, " Behold, I come!" 
and, lifting up his withered hands, answered, *'Amen. 
Even so come, Lord Jesus," and went to his rest with 
a benediction on his lips, "The grace of our Lord 
Jesus Christ be with you all." 

IV. Our next lesson has to do with Mortality. 
And why should we shudder at mention of death ? 
Of all God's angels there is none more gracious. 
He has light in his eyes, warmth in his heart, and he 
speaks the promise of endless life. 

We think of death as the great mystery. But two 
things are certain respecting it: First, It is sure. We 
have a proverb "as sure as death." The actuaries of 
our life insurance companies can approximate, with 
some degree of certainty, as to relative chances. 
They will tell you that the farmer is a "good risk," 
as he ought to be, living in the clear air and sunlight 
and earning his bread by honest toil. They will tell 
you the probabilities at various periods of life. All 
this, however, is guess-work. One thing only is sure; 
the black camel kneels at every gate. So it is written 
in the genealogies : "And Adam lived an hundred 
and thirty years, and he died. And Mahalaleel lived 
eight hundred thirty and five years, and he died. 
And Methuselah" — that long lived ne'er-do-weel who 
has no biography but this — " he lived nine hundred 
and sixty and nine years; and he died'' 



24 THE SERE AND YELLOW LEAF. 

" Life! I know not what thou art, 
But I know that thou and I must part ; 
And when, or how, or where we met, 
I own to me's a secret yet. 

" Life! we have been long together 
Through pleasant and through cloudy weather^ 
'Tis hard to part when friends are dear — 
Perhaps 'twill cost a sigh, a tear — 
Then steal away, give little warning, 
Choose thine own time; 

Say not good night — but in some brighter clime 
Bid me good morning." 

The second certainty as to death is that it comes on 
time. There is no accident here. It is a mistake to 
suppose that the leaves fall because they are frost- 
bitten. They fall because they are ready and ripe to 
fall. So death is no accident ; it is but an episode in 
life. There is a truth in what the Moslems say, that 
every man has his time written on his forehead. It 
is never too soon, never too late. No life is incom- 
plete, however it may seem to us. When the summons 
comes, it is high time to go. 

V. Our next lesson from the falling leaf is with 
respect to Immortality. The leaf is not without its 
memorial. It leaves a record behind it. You may 
note upon the tree a scar — the eloquent epitaph of 
the departed. So the life is followed by influence. 
Our names may be forgotten, but the good or evil 
we have done will live after us. 

As Coleridge passed along the country road in the 
twilight, he heard a reaper singing as he returned 
from the field ; and the poet wrote, 



THE SERE AND YELLOW LEAF. 25 

*' I listened till I had my fill, 
And as I mounted up the hill, 
The music in my heart I bore 
Long after it was heard no more." 

Our words, though they seem of little moment, are 
spoken into a phonograph which will reproduce them 
forever. Our deeds are perpetuated in the character 
of those who remain after us. The singer goes his 
way, but the song lives on. 

There is, however, a more real and personal im- 
mortality than this. We are destined to live forever 
in another clime. That which we call the falling leaf, 
is indeed not the leaf at all. Its chlorophyl, or real 
substance, its life principle, has withdrawn into the 
tree itself, and only the husk falls. The body returns 
to earth as it was, and the spirit to God who gave it. 
That was a glorious truth which was uttered by the 
Lord Christ as he stood beside an open grave : * I am 
the resurrection and the life ; he that believeth in me 
though he were dead, yet shall he live ; and whoso- 
ever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." 

VI. Our last lesson is in Practical Religio?i. The 
leaf lives from above. It is a mistake to say that it 
gets its nutriment from the earth. The soil furnishes 
only the silica for its framework ; all else comes from 
the air and sunlight. So is our life, our real spiritual 
life ; '* Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be 
born," dnothen — from above — " he shall not see the 
kingdom of God." 

We have not entered upon the true life, unless we 
have entered into vital union with him who is the life 
of all. He who dwells amid the sordid cares of this 
lower world, serving self in pursuing the things that 
perish with the using, may have a name to live but 



26 THE SERE AND YELLOW LEAF. 

he is dead. And dead he will continue to be, until 
he shall find the life which is hid with Christ in God. 
Then self is more and more forgotten as heaven 
dawns upon him. "I no longer live," said Paul, 
"but Christ liveth in me." And living thus, no chill 
of autumn winds can reach his soul. Death shall be 
but the King's herald summoning him to a continu- 
ance of life in nobler tasks and duties. A glad wel- 
come awaits him in the land of eternal sunshine and 
beauty; *' My beloved spake, and said unto me. Rise 
up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, 
the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the 
flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing 
of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard 
in the land ; the fig tree putteth forth her green 
figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a 
good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come 
away." 



"YE SERVE THE LORD CHRIST." 

"For ye serve the Lord Christ.'' — Col. iii. 24. 

The occasion of this letter to the members of the 
Colossian Church was what has been called "The 
Colossian Heresy." It was a commingling of Oriental 
Mysticism with Jewish Essenism,J>/us a modicum of 
the Gospel of Christ. There are people in these 
days, also, who incline to a meditative religion. 
Dreams are more to them than duties; and trans- 
cendentalism more than the power of an earnest life. 

My willing soul would stay 
In such a frame as this, 
And sit and sing herself away 
To everlasting bliss. 

It was scarcely to be supposed that Paul would 
countenance anything of that sort ; he was so emi- 
nently practical in his religious views. He would 
have the Christians of Colosse know that the true 
Christian life was not in sitting at Jesus' feet, but 
rather standing beside him in the great harvest, sickle 
in hand. " Ye are not called," he says to them, '' to be 
dreamers among the shadows, but to deny self, take 
up the cross and follow him ; for ye serve the Lord 
Christ." 

The motto of the Prince of Wales is IcA dien. It 
(37) 



28 *'yE serve the lord CHRIST." 

is a truism. Of course he serves. Everybody serves. 
The basest serve themselves. This is what the multi- 
tudes are doing who throng our thoroughfares with 
restless eyes and furrowed brows. They are spend- 
ing their energies in pursuit of wealth or pleasure; 
lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, pride of life. 

It is a higher form of self-seeking which we ob- 
serve in those who agonize for a personal deliver- 
ance from sin. This should be, indeed, the first busi- 
ness, logically and chronologically, of every earnest 
man. But having met the necessary conditions of 
salvation in Christ, we should linger no longer at that 
point, but, taking God at his word, 'Meave the rudi- 
ments and pass on unto perfection." 

We note another phase of self-service in much of 
what is felt and written concerning " The Higher 
Life." By this is usually meant a passive opening of 
the soul to the influences of the Spirit of God. In 
other quarters it is called, ''self-culture"; that is, 
the adding of one grace to another in the building of 
character. This also is good as far as it goes, but it 
does not go far enough. The cultivation of the pas- 
sive graces of character may constitute " The Higher 
Life," but the highest life lies further on. 

A better sort of service is that which seeks the 
welfare of others. One of the significant signs of 
the times is the general interest in sociology. A new 
name has been invented: "altruism" or otherism. The 
thing which it signifies, however, is as old-fashioned 
as the Christian religion. It is simply philanthropy; 
the love of our fellowmen. It matters little, how- 
ever, what we call it ; otherism in any form or under 
any name, is better than egotism. Let us be thank- 
ful that so many are disposed to serve society rather 



** YE SERVE THE LORD CHRIST. 29 

than themselves, and strive to make the town, the 
commonwealth, the world, a better place to live in. 

But this is not the highest. There is only one 
ultimate fact ; to wit, God. No purpose is supremely 
or absolutely right unless it terminates upon him. 
We know God, however, only as he has manifested 
himself in Jesus Christ ; he is set forth as the fulness 
of the Godhead bodily, dwelling among us. He is 
Alpha and Omega ; the beginning of all noble aspi- 
rations and the objective point of all holy life. So 
then the Apostle spoke of The Highest Life when he 
put the Colossians in remembrance, saying, "Ye 
serve the Lord Christ." It was but another way of 
saying, " The chief end of man is to glorify God." 

I. But who is this Lord Christ '^ He lays claim to 
our service, saying, " Ye call me Lord and Master 
and ye say well, for so I am." If I am to serve him 
reasonably, I must know that he is highest and 
worthiest of all. 

In the Cologne Cathedral there is a rude image of 
oak bearing the marks of extreme age, representing 
a giant with a child upon his shoulder. " Who is 
this?" I asked of the sacristan; and he answered, 
"This is Offero, the man in search of a master." 
Then he related the story: Offero would serve only 
the mightiest. He offered himself to the greatest of 
earthly kings, and served him well, until, on a certain 
occasion in the banquet hall, the name Satan was 
mentioned; whereat the king turned pale and trem- 
bled. "Why art thou frightened, O King?" he 
asked. "Because this is the prince of darkness and 
he is mightier than I." Then Offero went in seaich 
of the prince of darkness and found him without 



3© " YE SERVE THE LORD CHRIST." 

difficulty. He entered his service, and all went well 
until, as they were journeying on the highway, they 
came to the cross-roads, where stood a crucifix. 
There Satan fell a-trembling and refused to pass on. 
"Why art thou afraid?" asked Offero. "Because 
this is the Christ, who rules in heaven and suffered on 
the cross for men, and he is mightier than I." Then 
Offero went seeking for the Christ. A barefoot friar 
said to him, " If thou wilt do good as thou hast op- 
portunity, he will present himself to thee." The 
giant built himself a hut at the ford of a river, and 
devoted himself to helpful deeds. One dark night 
he heard a voice without calling, " Offero, come and 
carry me over!" He found a child awaiting him, 
lifted it upon his shoulders and, staff in hand, he 
entered the ford. As he proceeded the winds blew 
fiercely and the waters rose about him; the burden 
on his shoulders grew heavier and heavier until it 
seemed to crush him. At length he reached the other 
shore, set down his burden, and lo! the Lord Christ 
stood before him, saying, " Inasmuch as thou hast 
done it unto one of these least, thou hast done it 
unto me," He had found the Mightiest, and thence- 
forth devoted his life to him. 

The men who write history are at odds respect- 
ing the historic method, but all are agreed as to one 
divisional line; all pay tribute to the cabalistic let- 
ters, A.D. The advent of Jesus Christ marks the 
zenith of history; up to that time events were all 
prophetic and all prophecies pointed toward Christ, 
as all brooks and rivers run into the sea. Since then 
the path of history has been a highway for the 
King; its records are but the story of his triumphal 
march. The progress of civilization is the manifes- 



**YE SERVE THE LORD CHRIST." 31 

tation of the power of his name. Christendom is 
the world under the luminous shadow of his cross. 
The hope of all nations is the coming of his millenial 
glory. Earth answers back to heaven more and more 
along the passing years: "Worthy art thou to receive 
honor and glory and power and dominion forever 
and ever. Amen." 

You have seen, perhaps, a remarkable picture 
called, " The Conquerors." Here they come, Caesar, 
Alexander, Napoleon, Attila the Scourge, Boadicea, 
Timour the Tartar, Cleopatra — on battle steeds and 
in war chariots, with waving trumpets and flaring 
banners, leading on a militant host. On either side 
of them, far as the eye can reach, are naked bodies of 
the slain in attitudes of anguish, headless, dismem- 
bered. Such is the story of the advance of the 
mighty toward the conquest of the world. Not such 
has been the progress of the Prince of Peace. He 
has come down through the centuries a beneficent 
Presence with hands stretched out in blessing. The 
eyes of the blind are opened, the ears of the deaf are 
unstopped, the lame man leapeth as an hart, the wil- 
derness and the solitary places are glad because of 
him, the trees of the field clap their hands. O Lord 
Christ, thou art worthiest of all ! 

n. But how shall ive serve him] The rules of the 
service are in two brief words, "Come" and "Go." 

We come to him to receive our qualification and com- 
mission for service. Do the first things first. There 
is no serving Christ until we have passed under his 
yoke. If any man will come after him let him deny 
himself, take up his cross, and follow him. 

We come to the Lord Christ for our creed. He tells 



32 *'yE serve the lord CHRIST." 

US what to believe respecting the great verities of the 
endless life. He instructs us as to God, as to life and 
immortality, as to final judgment. x\nd his word is 
our oracle. Let there be no murmuring ; if we serve 
him, it is sufScient that the Lord has said it. 

Arid lie come to hiui fo?' character. Our self- cul- 
ture is the imitation of Christ. It is for us to copy 
his hatred of sin and love of holiness; his meekness 
on the one hand, his courage on the other; his trans- 
parent honesty, his submission to the divine will. 

My dear Redeemer and my Lord, 

I read my duty in Thy Word; 

But in Thy life the law appears 

Drawn out in living characters. 

Such was Thy truth and such Thy zeal, 

Such deference to Thy Father's will, 

Such love and meekness so divine; 

I would transcribe and make them mine. 

Then, " Go." " Go do'^n to thine oiun house,''' he 
said to the Gadarene, "and show what great things 
the Lord hath done for thee." Home is the inner- 
most circle of our influence. Let us show our religion 
there. Many a man is popular among his fellows, 
well-liked in business, genial in all other associations, 
who becomes a wretched kill-joy, cross-grained, dic- 
tatorial and churlish, the moment he crosses his own 
threshold. No man has found the true religion who 
does not make wife and children the happier for it. 

" Go to the temple,'' said Jesus to the ten lepers, 
"and show yourselves unto the priest." The Lord 
Christ honored the sanctuary as a divine institution. 
The Church was his bride, and no man can love the 
bridegroom and cast reproach upon his spouse. The 



"ye serve the lord CHRIST. $^ 

Church affords a sphere for the activities of all true 
followers of Christ. The Church is the organism 
through which he is working for the setting up of 
his kingdom on earth. Find your place there, O 
servant of the Lord Christ, and busy yourself over 
against your own place in the building of the wall. 

Go out into the community and show forth your re- 
ligion among all. The circle widens. Neighbors and 
friends make their demands upon you. Ye are as 
salt; but if the salt have lost its savor, it is thence- 
forth good for nothing but to be cast out and trod- 
den under the foot of men. Ye are as light; let your 
light so shine before men that they may see your 
good works and glorify God. 

" Go ye into all the world'' and tell the good news. 
Charity begins at home, but it journeys to the utter- 
most parts of the earth. The glory of Christianity 
is that it enlarges the heart. The man who has 
caught the spirit of Christ is in cordial sympathy 
with every home missionary who rides his Indian 
pony across the plains, and with every foreign mis- 
sionary who preaches the Gospel to those who lie in 
darkness and the shadow of death. A Christian is 
a cosmopolitan. 

There is only one thing the servant of the Lord 
Christ cannot do; he cannot stay j he cannot linger, 
forever looking up into the Master's face. The world 
calls him. The word of the Master rings out like 
a clarion, *' Go ye ! " The true servant of the Master 
feels that word thrilling through heart, and conscience, 
and soul : Go ye ! beginning at the innermost point 
of influence and reaching to the uttermost. 

On the mount of Transfiguration, the disciples. 



34 "ye serve the lord Christ. 

witnessing the transfigured glory of their Master, 
were filled with a transport of peace. And Peter 
said, **It is good for us to be here. Let us build 
three tabernacles; one for thee, one for Moses, and 
one for Elias." He would have lingered in that lu- 
minous cloud and amid the transcendent visions of 
that hour; but he wist not what he said. At the 
foot of that mountain was a demoniac boy, foaming 
at the lips, waiting to be dispossessed. And there 
were numberless others needing help and dumbly 
appealing to the followers of Christ. Go ye, and 
relieve the sufferings of your fellowmen. Go to 
those who bear the burden of sin and tell them that 
Jesus is mighty to save. Go to those who are bound 
v/ith the chains of habit and tell them in earnest 
words and in your own walk and conversation, that 
Jesus calls them to the glorious liberty of the children 
of God. 

III. But why shall we serve the Lord Christ ? What 
are the motives ? 

First, Duety. If the word seems quaintly spelled 
with an '* e," let us remember that obligation is the 
very heart of it. Duty is that which is owed to God. 
The service which you pay to the Lord Christ is in 
recognition of the service which he has rendered to 
you. "Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a 
price, not with silver or gold, but with the precious 
blood of Jesus as of a lamb without blemish and 
without spot.' Nothing that we can render is too 
good for him. 

Second, Because of the joy of service. The hap- 
piest man in the world was Jesus; the next happiest 
is he who most nearly follows Jesus in doing good 



**YE *^ERVE THE LORD CHRIST. 35 

unto all. A clerk searching among the accounts of 
Edward II. found this strange entry, "A crown for 
making the king laugh.'" Poor, melancholy Edward. 
It was a gracious thing to make him laugh and the 
jester well deserved his crown. But after all the 
crown was the smallest part of his requital, for it is 
safe to say that when Edward laughed, the jester 
laughed too. Joy is infectious. The heart burns in 
loving service. There is no pleasure like " the gen- 
erous pleasure of a kindly deed." 

The /quality of mercy is not strainM ; 
It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven 
Upon the place beneath : it is twice bless'd ; 
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes. 

Third, The perpetuity of influence. We shall pres- 
ently go our way and our names will "be forgotten; all 
that will remain will be the influence of our lives. 

The artist Wilkie visited the Escurial to see 
Titian's picture of the Last Supper. An old Jerono- 
mite stood by and said, " I have sat in sight of that 
picture nearly three-score years. The visitors have 
come and looked and wondered and gone their way. 
My companions have dropped off one by one. But 
these remain; these painted men. They are the true 
realities; we are but shadows." This is the solemn 
truth. Titian dies, but his work remains. Influence 
is immortal. We are but shadows, the sun sets and 
we are gone; but our works do follow us. 

Fourth, Because of the penny at evening. The Lord 
has a great reward awaiting those who faithfully fol- 
low him. He meets them at the threshold, saying, 
"Well done, good servant, enter thou into tiie joy of 
thy Lord." And then, promotion. I was speaking 



30 " YE SERVE THE LORD CHRIST. 

but yesterday with a friend, of the faithful life of John 
Graham, who has recently been called home. He 
said, '' Is it not strange that a man so useful as he 
should be arrested in the midst of his work?" Ar- 
rested in his work ! There is no arrest of Christian 
work. Death is promotion. All our preparation 
here will surely be called into requisition for the dis- 
charge of higher tasks in that blessed country of 
which it is written, *' His servants do serve him." 

O friends, there is no sweeter word than this, ''My 
Master." It was the word of Mary Magdalene when 
she stood by the open sepulchre. He v/ho had been 
borne to that sepulchre was her clearest friend, who 
had saved her from the shame of a mislived life and 
pardoned her sin. But he was gone, and her tears 
flowed fast. "Why weepest thou ?" said a voice be- 
side her. She saw but dimly through her tears, and 
supposing it to be the gardener, said, '' O sir, if thou 
hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid 
him." "Mary!" She knew his voice and, casting 
herself at his feet, cried, " Rabboni ! " which is to say 
"My Master." The sorrow of her heart was lost in 
the joy of a new devotion. Her word gave inspiration 
to quaint George Herbert to write : 

How sweetly doth " My Master" sound ! 

My Master 1 

As ambergris leaves a rich scent 

Unto the taster : 

So do these words a sweet content, 

And oriental fragrancie, 

My Master ! 



PROGRESS IN OLD PATHS. 

" Beloved it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye 
should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the 
saints," — Jude iii. 

The writer of this epistle, Judas, was handicapped 
by his name. He is never mentioned, however, in 
the gospels, without the qualifying phrase, "not 
Iscariot." Indeed he was a very different sort of 
man. He was a kinsman of Christ after the flesh 
and called to be an apostle, but his chiefest joy was 
that he was a servant of Jesus Christ ; that was honor 
enough for him. 

This epistle is called "general " or "catholic," be- 
cause it is addressed, not to any particular church or 
individual, but " to them that are sanctified by God 
the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called." 
To all such the world over and through the ages he 
addresses his benediction, " Mercy unto you and 
peace and love." 

The occasion of this epistle is given in these words, 
" It is needful for me to write and exhort you that ye 
should earnestly contend for the faith which was once 
delivered unto the saints. Fo7' there are certain men 
crept in unawares, ungodly men, turning the grace of 
God into lasciviousness (that is, lawless freedom of 
thought and conscience), and denying the only Lord 
God and our Lord Jesus Christ." This was Anno 

(37) 



38 PROGRESS IN OLD PATHS. 

Domini 66. A generation had passed away since 
the ascension of Christ. The early flush of enthusi- 
asm was gone, and the world was getting a firm 
grip on some of the disciples. Now came false teach- 
ers, "creeping in unawares," like the serpents of 
Tenedos under the altar. They had new philoso- 
phies to suggest for the toning down of the asperities 
of the Gospel and the removal, or the modification, of 
the offence of the cross. 

There is no uncertain sound in Jude's characteri- 
zation of these errorists. He says, " These are spots in 
your feasts of charity ; " rather, lepers. It is scarcely 
possible to conceive of a greater kill-joy at a feast 
than a seat-mate with his fingers dropping from the 
joints. And again, "They are clouds without water, 
carried about of winds." In time of drought you 
look to them in vain for relief ; they are beautiful, 
but barren ; so are false teachers, abounding in fine 
phrases, but not satisfying the soul. And again, 
they are " trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, 
twice dead, plucked up by the roots." Twice dead ! 
Once is usually enough. But these men are like 
trees so dead that they have no fruit for the hungry 
nor shadow for the weary, and are hardly fit for fire- 
wood. And again, " They are raging waves of the 
sea, foaming out their own shame." The storm is 
over and the damage done. The billows roll in bear- 
ing flotsam and bodies of the dead, and roll back 
again triumphant, in masses of foam. So do false 
teachers lure away the thoughtless from truth and 
righteousness, and glory in it. And again, they are 
"wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness 
of darkness forever." They are not like those orderly 
planets that revolve in their orbits under wise law; 



PROGRESS IN OLD PATHS. 39 

but, whizzing forth into space on their own account, 
with much noise and spectacular display, they lose 
themselves in endless night. 

A stern denunciation this, but not enough. The 
apostle says furthermore, " Woe unto them ! for they 
have gone in the way of Cain." And what did Cain 
do ? He set up his own reason against divine author- 
ity, and brought to the altar the first fruits of the 
field in which there was no blood; and the Lord re- 
jected his offering. And they have " run greedily 
after the error of Balaam for reward." What was 
the error of Balaam ? He denied divine authority in 
insisting that one religion was as good as another; 
as between Baal and Jehovah it mattered little, if the 
worship were only sincere. And they have " perished 
in the gainsaying of Core." Who was Core ? A man 
who set himself up against the Mosaic claim of 
divine authority, who called in question the oracles, 
saying, "I will do as seemeth right unto me"; and 
the earth yawned and swallowed him up. 

No uninspired preacher would dare to use such im- 
passioned invective in these days. Let it be remem- 
bered, however, that Jude wrote as he was moved by 
the Spirit of God, and gave as a reason for his severity, 
"because they have turned the grace of God into 
lawless liberty and have denied the Lord Christ." 
We find the same class of errorists to-day. And for 
that matter there is no new heresy. The wind 
whirleth about continually and returneth again ac- 
cording to its circuits ; the thing that hath been, is 
that which shall be. We hear much of a theological 
renaissance, a new theology, a new Christ ! " Our 
religious thought must be brought up abreast of the 



40 PROGRESS IN OLD PATHS. 

age." In this connection there are certain consid- 
erations which may profitably engage our thought : 

I. The world moves. There can be no doubt about 
that. Civilization is a fact. Evangelization is a fact. 
The ever-enlarging boundaries of Christendom are 
a glorious fact. There can be no pessimists but 
blind men. Truth and goodness are making head- 
way every day. The Pope required Galileo to kneel 
down and recant his statement that the world moved 
around the sun, under pain of anathema, but as he 
arose from his knees he muttered between his teeth, 
" Nevertheless it does move." It does move and no 
conservative denial can stop it. 

II. The Church must move with it. If Solomon 
were to undertake the building of the temple to-day, 
would he float his cedar logs along the western coast 
of Palestine and laboriously drag them over the 
mountains to the Holy City ? Nay, in recognition of 
the progress of the centuries he would employ a steam 
tug to push his rafts from Tyre to Joppa and a loco- 
motive with flat cars to carry the great timbers to 
the station at Jerusalem. If he pursued any other 
course, the world would make sport of him. 

There is a single branch of the Christian Church 
which glories in being se7nper idem. In the village of 
Minstead in England, you may read this sign: "John 
Purkes, charcoal burner." It was away back in the 
year iioo that a man named John Purkes, driving 
his charcoal wagon through the forest, picked up the 
body of King William Rufus with three arrows in 
the breast. And here, eight hundred years later, is 
his remote descendant bearing the same name, driv- 
ing the horse and cart, and doing the old business at 



PROGRESS IN OLD PATHS. 4I 

the old stand. God's people cannot afford to be con- 
servative in that v^ray. The world moves and the 
Church must move with it. 

III. There are^ however, some things which remain 
forever the same. They are unchangeable in the na- 
ture of the case. Such are the four elements, as the 
old scientists named them : Air, earth, water and 
fire. These are constant factors in physics. It would 
be preposterously foolish to attempt to improve upon 
them or to change them in any way. In like manner 
there are certain constant factors in theology, known 
as " Credenda." They are elemental, eternal facts. 

(i) God. He is the same yesterday, to-day and 
forever. There is inexpressible satisfaction in feel- 
ing that whatever else may come or go, with him is 
neither variableness nor shadow of turning. The 
sailor always knows where to find the North Star. 
Quadrants, compasses, chronometers and "dead reck- 
onings " may fail, but yonder in heaven shines the 
mariner's guide. So sings the Psalmist, ''Lord 
thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations; 
before the mountains were brought forth, or ever 
thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even 
from everlasting to everlasting thou art God." 

(2) Mafi. The conditions of life may be im- 
proved and the level of character may be raised, but 
there is no change in the constitution of the race. 
Our hopes, griefs, aspirations, are the same that 
our fathers have had before us. Sin is just what it 
was when Cain, looking at his red hands, in horror 
cried, " My burden is greater than I can bear." All 
self-culture and moral cosmetics cannot affect the 
awful, abhorrent fact. And responsibility is what it 



42 PROGRESS IN OLD PATHS. 

has always been; all the duties of this present life 
thrown into bloody, startling relief in the lurid glow 
of the judgment day. And spiritual death is what it 
has always been; the hearts of men are m.oved as 
ever with a certain fearful looking-for of judgment, 
and the law rings out as it has ever done, " The soul 
that sinneth, it shall die." And our helplessness is as 
absolute as ever, forcing from us the cry, "What 
shall I do to be saved ?" 

(3) The Cross. No new theories can affect it. 
The Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after 
wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, because there 
is none other name under heaven given among men 
whereby we must be saved. 

This is the way the prophets went, 
The way that leads from banishment. 
The King's highway of holiness. 

We hear much in these times of the " moral in- 
fluence theory " of the atonement; that is to say, the 
sacrifice of the cross was " not penal, but didactic." It 
was intended to teach the race, in an overwhelming 
manner, the lesson of divine love. And that was all. 

There is an outcry against vivisection as practiced 
in our medical schools. We think with horror of a cir- 
cle of students gathered about a dumb creature, kept 
under torture that they may learn how the blood 
circulates or how the nerves tingle under pain. But 
what shall be said of this awful vivisection on Cal- 
vary; the Father giving his only-begotten and well- 
beloved Son to be nailed upon the cross for no other 
purpose than to teach us sinners that he loves us? 
The hypothesis is inadequate. One of the Greek 
dramatists was wont to say, "A god should never be 



PROGRESS IN OLD PATHS. 43 

introduced into a tragedy unless there is a needs-be." 
Judged by that pagan standard, the moral influence 
theory of the atonement has no right to be. Let 
the Scriptural statement of the fact be sufficient : 
He took our place as a divine substitute before the 
offended law, assumed the burden of our sins until 
his heart broke under it; he was wounded for our 
transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities, and by 
his stripes we are healed. 

(4) The Bible, It was divinely constructed once 
for all to meet the necessities of men. It was intended 
to be true, trustworthy and complete. Its last word 
was Finis. The text-books which are used in our 
common schools must be changed from time to time 
in order to keep pace with progress. But the Scrip- 
tures were in the beginning adjusted to all possible 
changes and developments in human life. There are 
no errata; there is no addendum or supplement. 
The Book remains just what it was when Jesus said: 
"Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have 
eternal life and these are they which testify of me." 

These are postulates called " Credenda," be- 
cause they must be accepted in order to spiritual 
progress. The athlete who runs in the stadium 
must have his feet planted on terra Jirma : then let 
him run so as to win. These fundamental truths are 
the terra firma of Christian progress. We can no 
more improve upon them than a scientist can improve 
on air, earth, fire and water. 

IV. But some things admit of betterment. If the 
Credenda constitute the substantial body of truth, 
there are Docenda which are liable to constant 
change and improvement. Here is the field of pro- 



44 PROGRESS IN OLD PATHS. 

gress. We may not affect the elemental forces which 
furnish the motive power of the spiritual world, but 
there is illimitable room for new methods, adjust- 
ments, applications and combinations of those forces. 
At this point we raise the song, " Ring out the old ! 
Ring in the new !" 

(i) It behooves us to strive continually after a 
larger faith in God. We speak of him »as the great 
Mystery. But there is a real sense in which God is 
no mystery at all. The best the Greek philosophers 
could do, was to rear an altar inscribed, "To the 
Unknown God." No such agnosticism is excusa- 
ble in us, for God has revealed himself in both his 
written and his incarnate Word. *' Say not, Who 
shall ascend into heaven, to bring him down ? or, 
Who shall descend into the depths, to bring him up ? 
for lo, he is nigh thee, even in thy heart and m thy 
mouth." He is an immanent God. He is our Father. 
He is nearer to us each moment than our closest 
friend. If we could but realize this fact and bear it 
with us into the discharge of our common tasks and 
responsibilities, what manner of persons we should 
be ! Let us seek to make him ever more and more a 
Real Presence, dominating our lives until every 
thought and purpose is brought into subjection to 
him. 

(2) A larger conception of the dignity and possibilities 
of manhood. The daily prayer of a humble weaver in 
England was, " Lord, give me a better opinion of 
myself." And why not? Were we not created in the 
divine likeness, and but little lower than the angels? 
Do we not stand erect, with power to face the great 
problems and apprehend the sublime truths of the 



PROGRESS IN OLD PATHS. 45 

eternal life ? Is it not our privilege to co-operate 
with God himself in the building up of his kingdom of 
truth and righteousness on earth ? And, despite our 
sin, are we not moved by the great hope of returning 
to our original estate by the imitation of Christ the 
ideal Man ? " Now are we sons of God, and it doth not 
yet appear what we shall be ; but we know that when 
he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see 
him as he is." 

(3) A higher^ deeper apprehension of the truth and 
power of the cross. We are too prone to regard the 
cross as an objective fact, the symbol of a sublime 
tragedy that was enacted 1800 years ago. But this 
is an eternal tragedy. Christ is the Lamb slain from 
the foundation of the world. Christ is crucified be- 
fore our very eyes. Let us gaze upon him affixed to 
the cross, until the eye shall affect the heart and the 
heart affect the life. Let us gaze upon him until all 
else shall vanish ; the mocking scribes and Pharisees, 
the soldiers, Calvary itself, the skies above with the 
clouds enshrouding them, and naught remains but 
Christ and him crucified. 

(4) New light on the Scriptures. This was the word 
of John Robinson to the Pilgrims as they were em- 
barking at Delft Haven for the new world : ^' I charge 
you before God and the angels that ye follow me no 
further than I have followed Christ, and remember 
that new light will ever burst forth from the word of 
God." We are accustomed to say that we are living 
in an age of Bible study. Not so ; we are living in 
an age of study about the Bible. But the time has 
come when we should busy ourselves less in the prob- 
lems that concern the exterior of the Book, and open 



46 PROGRESS IN OLD PATHS. 

it wide to find what God therein says to us. It is the 
entrance of his Word that giveth light. 

And finally, there is room for vastly greater zeal in 
the service of God. There is indeed no end to the pos- 
sibilities of progress at this point. Why shall the 
Church stand with folded hands in the market-place, 
while there are multitudes of souls still abiding in 
darkness and the shadow of death? Why engage 
in frivolous controversies, while the word of the Master 
rings out from the Mount of Ascension, *' Go ye into 
all the world and tell the good news " ? 

But the Church is what we individually make it. 
O for more of personal zeal in the service of our 
Lord! We are tarrying too long in Jerusalem await- 
ing the baptismal power. I have been reading of 
George Whitefield; how he preached thirty-four 
years, delivering more than eighteen thousand ser- 
mons. He traversed England, Ireland and Wales, 
and then crossed the sea and passed through the 
Colonies from Maine to Georgia. He wore himself 
out most gladly in his Master's service. When the 
end drew near, he essayed to speak to a multitude 
who were gathered at evening in the street below. 
His strength failed him, and he said, " Brother, you 
must preach, I cannot say a word." Candle in hand, 
he started for his bed; then he came back, and stand- 
ing on the stairs he preached the old gospel until the 
candle burned to its socket, flickered and went out. 
Then he staggered back to his bed and awoke in 
heaven. What a glorious life, what a glorious death 
was that ! Is there anything better possible to us 
than to grow weary and be worn out for the Lord 
Christ ? 



PROGRESS IN OLD PATHS. 47 

O no, beloved! it is not a new theology that we 
want, but a new life. Not a new Bible, but new 
eyes wherewith to read it. Not a new theory of re- 
demption, but a new voice to sing the praises of 
redeeming grace. Not a new Christ, but a new, 
more absolute, all-consuming devotion to him. Make 
us willing, O Lord, in the day of thy power, in the 
beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morn- 
ing, willing to live, to labor, to suffer for the glory of 
the Name which is above every other that is named 
in heaven or on earth! 



THE MISSION OF AMERICA TO THE 
WORLD. 

"It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of 
Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel ; I will also give thee for a 
light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of 
the earth."— IsA. xlix. 6. 

God is ever at work. His is a great parish. He 
ministers to the universe. His thought is given to 
myriads on myriads of worlds. *' Look how the floor 
of heaven is thick inlaid with patens of fine gold ! " 
If we walk through his vast field of labor, we shall 
find worlds springing up like daisies and buttercups 
along the way ; and space, stretching infinitely far, is 
filled with worlds as motes swarming in the air 
about us. Or let us, if the Master of this great 
parish will invite us into his chariot, ride along that 
royal thoroughfare called the "Milky Way," and 
note how the dust rises about our chariot wheels as 
we whirl onward ; thick clouds of rising dust, and 
every atom a world. 

With our unaided eyes we behold an innumerable 
host; myriads on myriads, firmaments and systems. 
But if we summon to our help the telescope we shall 
see new systems and firmaments come wheeling into 
view, like an infinite armada on a boundless sea. 
Eyes are dazzled and brain bewildered by the view. 

(48) 



THE MISSION OF AMERICA TO THE WORLD. 49 

Mare mag7ium ! Fleets, armies, archipelagoes of 
worlds ! See yonder nebulae, dull patches of light ; 
every tremulous spark in each of them is a world — a 
world, for aught we know, populous with immortal 
beings. There is the "Stratified Nebula," layer on 
layer of worlds. Yonder the ** Spiral Nebula," a mul- 
titudinous twist or vortex, a winding staircase of 
worlds. On this side, the "Perforated Nebula," as if 
another firmament had whizzed through it and car- 
ried away to black chaos some millions or trillions of 
worlds. 

And all this bewildering, incalculable, unthinkable 
array of systems revolves around a centre, somewhere. 
Is it Alcyone of the Pleiades, as the fathers of astron- 
omy thought ? Or is it yonder fixed star in the re- 
motest distance, so far away that if we travelled on 
the Empire State Express we should not reach it in 
four thousand years ? Or is this visible universe, 
after all, but the outer fringe of an inconceivably 
vaster universe filling all the infinitude of space ? Is 
there no limit? Are there no boundaries? Is the 
universe a parish vast as its great Minister, from ever- 
lasting to everlasting? 

Wherever its centre is, the throne of the Eternal 
is there. He created these worlds by his fiat. " By 
his spirit he has garnished the heavens." He telleth 
the number of the stars; he calleth them by name. 
What a stupendous figure have we here : God calling 
the roll of the worlds. *'0 sun, come forth ! " and at 
his word the sun comes forth out of his chamber as a 
bridegroom, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a 
race. " O moon, come forth ! " and like Ophelia 
with wide eyes and disheveled locks, she pursues her 
way along the night. " O Mazzaroth, Orion, Arcturus 



50 THE MISSION OF AMERICA TO THE WORLD. 

v/ith th}^ sons, and thou, O Star of Bethlehem, come 
forth!" And each at his summons answers, "Here 
am I." Thus day after day, night after night, century 
after century, seon after aeon, the great Minister, never 
slumbering, never sleeping, rules his parish. This is 
the work of God. 

Is this in the realm of speculation ? Then let us 
descend to matter of fact. One thing we know ; one 
world we are familiar with; namely, the world we 
live in. It is but an infinitesimal part of the great 
parish, but it requires his constant care. It is, so far as 
we know, his one lost world. If the other worlds in 
his universe are peopled, it may be that yonder the 
fathers point out to their children a twinkling star in 
the distance, and say, " That is the world that 
wandered into sin." To bring this wayward sphere 
to its orbit again, the great Ruler must needs make 
bare his arm. He did make bare his arm and laid his 
hand, a pierced hand, upon our world at Calvary to 
reclaim it. It is an easy matter for God to manage 
those nebulae, for nothing is too hard for him. But 
the most difficult task to which he addresses his 
omnipotence is the deliverance of this fair, twinkling 
orb that swung from its orbit into sin. It is written, 
" He left the ninety and nine and went out after the 
one sheep that was lost." O supreme manifestation 
of divine wisdom and power ! He will never cease his 
exertion in this world's behalf until the last sinner is 
reclaimed by his grace. This is the great enterprise 
to which Jesus referred when he said, "My Father 
worketh hitherto and I work." And again, "As the 
Father hath sent me into the world, so send I you." 

Here is the clew of history. All events are to 
be weighed and measured by their bearing on this 



THE MISSION OF AMERICA TO THE WORLD. 51 

divine work. Dr. Roswell Hitchcock said, "The 
man who in his reading has learned to ask concerning 
any event, What did God mean by this? has begun 
to get at the philosophy of history." Let us go 
further and say, The man who has learned to meas- 
ure all events by their relation to the great work of 
redemption, has fully grasped the philosophy of his- 
tory. The call of Abraham, the roll of the trumpet 
waxing louder and louder at Sinai, the rushing wind 
and lambent flame at Pentecost ; Rome, Babylon, 
Medo-Persia ; Cyrus, Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon ; 
Marathon, Waterloo, Marston Moor, Bunker Hill ; 
Runnymede, the Spanish Fury, the ringing of the 
bell on Independence Hall — all these are but episodes 
in the progress of God's great enterprise. They 
mean much or little, just as they are measured by 
their influence on the deliverance of this world 
from sin. 

We come now to the one episode which engages 
our immediate thought, the Discovery of America. Let 
us measure this by the rule of historic importance. 

Why was this continent, lying in the "Zone of 
Power," so rich in possibilities, suffered to lie un- 
known so long ? It was terra incognita^ a shining 
nugget at the feet of the nations, unheeded for five 
hundred years. 

What was it waiting for ? The science of naviga- 
tion ? Aye. The man who suspended a magnet to a 
cork and watched it float in a basin pointing ever 
the same way, wrought better than he knew ; for his 
discovery was to make the pathway through the seas. 

What else was the unknown continent waiting 
for ? The art of printing ? Aye. When Laurence 
Coster, sauntering through the wood with his little 



52 THE MISSION OF AMERICA TO THE WORLD. 

lad, cut the initials on the bark of an elm tree, saying, 
**And why not movable type?" he also wrought better 
than he knew ; for this, in multiplying the Scriptures, 
would furnish a reason for the pathway through 
the seas. 

But the unknown land was awaiting something 
else : the plethora of the Nations. The fulness of time 
for its discovery and settlement had not come until 
the Old World was groaning with its surplus popula- 
tions. In Holland, the little hollow land, the thrifty 
masses swarmed like bees. They jostled one another 
to discomfort in the eager pursuits of life. In France 
the Huguenots toiling at their looms longed for a 
larger sphere of labor. In England the Puritans, 
"cabin'd, cribbed, confined," cried out for room, more 
room. 

So the hour struck. The New World lay open to 
adventurous and ambitious souls. The Sea-Mew 
sailed from Holland with her cargo of honest Dutch- 
men bound for the shores of New Netherland. The 
Mayflower bore her precious crew of Pilgrims to the 
shores of New England. And eager bands of Hu- 
guenots set sail for our southern ports. It is thus 
manifest that the concealment of the western world 
through so many centuries was not beyond the pur- 
poses of Providence, and that its discovery was in the 
precise fulness of time. 

I. We are therefore led to observe that America 
was designed to be logically and chronologically a 
refuge for the oppressed of all nations. 

We are distinctly and singularly an immigrant 
people. The French are the descendants of the orig- 
inal Gauls. The Germans are children of those Ger- 
manic tribes of whom Tacitus wrote before the begin- 



THE MISSION OF AMERICA TO THE WORLD. 53 

ning of the Christian era. The English have in their 
veins the blood of the Angles, the Saxons, the Normans, 
the Romans, and the Druid worshippers of long centu- 
ries ago. But we Americans — what are we ? A hetero- 
geneous people. We are made up of the commingled 
bloods of all nations with one solitary exception: we 
are in no wise related with the native American race. 
There is no difference, therefore ; we are all alike 
immigrants at a less or greater remove. 

Why are we here ? What brought our fathers to 
these shores ? Some came to improve their worldly 
estate; to better their 'hope of an honest livelihood. 
Such were our Dutch forefathers. They did not flee 
from tyranny. Holland was the only nation on earth 
which had fought to a finish the conflict of civil and 
ecclesiastical freedom. But these thrifty men were 
not content with the industrial opportunities of the 
mother land. They, and multitudes of others, came 
to America, as Jason and the Argonauts set forth, in 
quest of the golden fleece. 

Others came hither for a chance to rise. The sys- 
tem of caste prevailed in one form or another in all 
the nations of the Old World. The scavengers and 
water-carriers of Bombay to-day are the children of 
those who were water-carriers and scavengers in 
Bombay five hundred years ago. The barriers of 
caste in India are such that they have been unable to 
rise above their traditional estate. The difficulties in 
other and more civilized lands are not so serious; 
nevertheless the gentry, the nobility, the titled and 
privileged classes, in France, Germany and Eng- 
land, are but other names for high caste. There 
never have been any such hindrances to ambition in 
the New World. We hear of the masses and the 



54 THE MISSION OF AMERICA TO THE WORLD. 

classes, but this is a wholly artificial distinction. We 
have no class except such as rises from the mass. 
There is a continual process of leveling up. The 
possibilities of social improvement know no bounds. 
An Italian laborer at work on our streets thinks him- 
self in a sort of heaven because he has the opportu- 
nity to earn a dollar a day. He may be satisfied with 
that for himself, but not for his children. He has a 
boy in our public schools whom he is educating in 
the distinct hope that the lad shall presently be able 
to make more than a dollar a day. And his dream is 
quite sure to be realized; for wealth, honor, influence, 
to the very utmost, are possible to the least and 
poorest. This was the message rung out from Inde- 
pendence Hall. "All men are created free and equal 
and with certain inalienable rights; among which are 
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." 

Others still came to the New World for freedom 
of conscience. Such were the Pilgrim Fathers. 
" They sought a faith's pure shrine." To all such 
refugees our free country has ever extended a most 
cordial welcome. 

A shipload of Armenians has recently landed at Ellis 
Island. There are some hundreds of these refugees 
who are detained there awaiting permission to enter. 
I say, in the name of our national traditions and in 
the interest of humanity, let them come. Are they poor? 
Are we not all the children of " poor but honest par- 
ents " ? I have looked into their faces; brave, honest, 
stalwart, clear-eyed men and women; these are the 
very stuff that Americans are made of. They have 
fled from the foulest and cruelest persecution ever 
known. Shall that bar their entrance to our free re- 
public? Nay; the same rule would have prevented 



THE MISSION OF AMERICA TO THE WORLD. 55 

the landing at Plymouth Rock. Let them come in ! 
If they are poor, they will the more eagerly improve 
the opportunity afforded here to make an honest liv- 
ing. If their backs are scarred with the scourge of 
ecclesiastical tyranny, they will the better appre- 
ciate our privileges of civil and religious freedom. 
We are a Christian nation. These men have suffered 
persecution solely because of their Christian faith. 
The strife in their fatherland is between the Crescent 
and the Cross. The Church of Christ is one the 
whole world over. The '' Body of Christ," do we call 
it? My body is so unified by its nervous system that 
if you tread upon my foot the thrill of pain is carried, 
as by electric wires, until it flies tingling to my finger 
tips. They have trodden upon our brethren in Ar- 
menia; let every drop of Christian blood that is in 
our American veins thrill with sympathy. Welcome 
to our brethren from afar, fugitives from scourge and 
fagot. In the name of the God who has kept and 
preserved us as a nation, let them come in ! 

II. We observe also that our country in the man- 
ifest providence of God is intended to be a centre of 
influence for the betterment of all nations. If it be true 
that no man liveth unto himself, it is truer still of a 
nation. The God who led Israel to the little land 
of Palestine, that from that focal point his chosen 
people might send forth streams of beneficence to 
the uttermost parts of the earth, has appointed a like 
destiny for us. He has somewhat for us to do as a 
nation in his great work of delivering the world 
from sin. 

It is ours to propagate the rights of man. At this 
moment we are all moaning for poor Armenia. It 
is indeed an oft-told tale, yet we cannot be silent 



56 THE MISSION OF AMERICA TO THE WORLD. 

when the submarine cables are laden from day to 
day with the message that the war of extermination 
goes merrily on. A hundred thousand slain in the 
nineteenth century of the Christian era ! Their 
blood crieth from the ground to God. To God 
alone? Nay, to God's people also. But what can 
America do ? The seas roll between us. The Great 
Powers on the other side of the Atlantic are bound 
hand and foot by their treaties and alliances. France 
cannot move; Russia cannot move ; Germany cannot 
move ; and, alas, England cannot move; and these 
are Christian nations ! They would, but dare not. 
From Armenia there comes this cry : '' In America is 
our last hope." We have sent our messages of pro- 
test and sympathy; can we do more ? The Christian 
nations of Europe tell us over and over again that 
they would deliver Armenia if it were possible. Can 
we not test their sincerity ? O that by one supreme 
and glorious impulse we, as the youngest of the Chris- 
tian nations, untrammeled by alliances, might ask 
the privilege of interference! O that we might be 
moved to say to these sister nations of Christendom, 
"Permit us to send our White Squadron through the 
Dardanelles. Permit us to champion the rights of 
these persecuted brethren. Keep your hands off 
from each other and off from us. Let us have but a 
fair field and no favor ; and with all the power of 
this Christian republic we will administer the coup 
de grace to the sick man and give him decent burial." 
I know there are constitutional difficulties in the way, 
but we have overcome constitutional difficulties when 
smaller issues were at stake. Would not this be 
something for our children to tell of? Did not all 
the Christian nations of Europe rise at the cry 



THE MISSION OF AMERICA TO THE WORLD. 57 

'"'■ Deits Vulf' to deliver a few score prisoners from 
Moslem jails, and can we not give power to that same 
cry, '* God wills " ? And would not this be a crusade 
worthy of the name ? Ah, if it were possible — and 
nothing is impossible to the magnanimous soul of a 
Christian nation — we would make for America a 
golden chapter in the history of the ages. 

But the supreme purpose of America in relation 
to God's great work is the propagation of the Gospel. 
Gladstone says, " You have in America a natural 
basis for the greatest continuous empire that ever was 
instituted by men." But that is not the point. Con- 
tinuous empire is little or nothing in itself. A man 
does not care for the life of Methuselah so much as 
to make his life, long or short, tell splendidly for 
truth and goodness. What we want, is to give to our 
national life a splendid significance in the great pur- 
pose of God. 

At the beginning of the Christian era the centre 
of ecclesiastical life was Jerusalem, but following the 
enlarged purpose of evangelization it soon shifted to 
Antioch, the Gentile capital. As time passed, it be- 
came evident that Asia was too straitened for the 
great purpose, and the centre shifted to Rome. But 
the atmosphere of ecclesiastical narrowness closed in 
about the Imperial City, and the centre shifted toward 
the west; England became the coigne of vantage for 
the Christian Church, and from that time the great 
enterprises of the Kingdom of Christ have found 
their propulsion in the Anglo-Saxon race. "To-day," 
as Dr. Strong says, " all the German missionary so- 
cieties together do not equal in number of workers 
and amount of contributions, the smallest of the three 
great English societies." The gifts of the German 



58 THE MISSION OF AMERICA TO THE WORLD. 

Established Church are about three-fourths of a cent 
per capita; while in several of our Anglo-Saxon de- 
nominations the average is about one dollar per 
capita. This shows that the Anglo-Saxon race has 
been and is doing the work of world-wide evangel- 
ization. But the centre of Anglo-Saxon power is 
shifting still. In 1700 there were less than six mil- 
lions of Anglo-Saxons on earth; in 1800 there were 
about twenty millions; and now, toward the close of 
the nineteenth century, there are about one hundred 
millions; more than one half of these, sixty millions, 
are in America. Adam Smith in his "Wealth of 
Nations" prophesied the transfer of empire from 
Europe to America. Edwin Arnold said, "America 
holds the future." This is not to boast of pre-emi- 
nence, but rather to emphasize responsibility. West- 
ward the star of empire has taken its way. 

So at length we have measured the discovery 
of America along the line of God's great work ; his 
purpose to deliver this world from its bondage of sin. 

Two words in conclusion. First, the duty of 
Home Missions presses itself upon us. Only as we 
strengthen the boundaries and enlarge the resources 
of our American Christianity, do we discharge our 
obligations to the world. 

And second. Foreign Missions. God pity the 
man in this splendid age of Christian progress who 
says, " I do not believe in Foreign Missions." So 
Peter reasoned in himself on the house-top at Joppa; 
and God let down the sheet from heaven with all 
manner of living creatures; once, twice, thrice, say- 
ing, "What God has cleansed, that call not thou 
uncommon or unclean." Then came the knock at his 
door and, lo, the centurion was there, calling Peter to 



THE MISSION OF AMERICA TO THE WORLD. 59 

let go his Jewish prejudice and set forth to the con- 
quest of the Gentile world. So comes the knocking 
at our doors to-day. Who knocks ? Asia, calling 
for the gospel of Christ. Africa. Aye, Ethiopia 
stretcheth out her hands unto God. And the islands 
of the sea, crying. Come over and help us ! 

In one of the bold visions of the Apocalypse there 
appeared a woman, clothed with the sun, having the 
moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 
twelve stars. She, with her child — the Church uplifting 
the Christ-child — is pursued by a red dragon having 
seven heads and ten horns and drawing after him one- 
third of the stars of heaven to hurl them down. And the 
woman flees "into a wilderness where she has a place 
prepared of God." The Church of Jesus Christ has 
found a place for herself in the New World from 
which, if faithful to her trust, she may exalt before 
the nations the glory of the Christ. 

I see from time to time Bartholdi's statue of 
Liberty in our harbor, and always with an increasing 
interest. It is indeed a magnificent conception of 
human genius; Liberty upholding her torch, enlight- 
ening the world. But let us close our eyes and look 
again. Here is a still more magnificent conception, 
A woman fairer than Freedom, the comely figure of 
the Bride of God. With one hand she lifts the veil 
of slumber from her eyes, and with the other upholds 
the Cross, from which radiates a brighter and more 
glorious light than ever shone on land or sea. Lib- 
erty enlightening the world ? Nay, the Church of 
the Lord Christ enlightening the world, and giving 
to all men the only true liberty, the liberty of the sons 
of God, whom the truth makes free indeed. This, I 
believe, is God's great purpose concerning our re- 
public. This is the mission of America to the world. 



SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. 

"Search the Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal life : and they are 
they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might 
have life."— John v. 39, 40. 

The word is Ereunate. And the question is, 
whether it shall be rendered "Search" or *'Ye do 
search." Either is true to the original, because the 
indicative and imperative are in form identical. For 
the present rendering stand Augustine, Chrysostom, 
Calvin, Martin Luther, the Greek Fathers generally, 
and the King James' Version. On the other side are 
Beza, Bengel, Erasmus and the Revised Version. 
But why shall we have a battle royal about a 
word ? Indicative or imperative, the meaning is the 
same in the end. Our Lord was speaking to the 
Jewish savants, who caviled at his divinity. He 
called the Scriptures to witness that he was the very 
Son of God. "Search them," he said, "and see." Search 
them indeed ! That was distinctively the business of 
these men. They were Bibliolaters. They scrutinized 
with the utmost care the letter of holy writ; they 
counted its syllables; they weighed the relative merit 
of its precepts ; they analyzed and classified it ; they 
treated it as a fetich, declining to touch it with un- 
washed hands. " Search it indeed ! We are the Bib- 
lical inquisitors." "Aye," said the Master, " ye do 

(60) 



SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. 6l 

search it, but in your devotion to its letter ye lose 
the spirit of it. Ye do search the Scriptures, for in 
them ye think ye have eternal life. And, behold, 
these are they which testify of me. Yet, strange to 
tell, ye will not come unto me for the eternal life ye 
seek. Thus ye miss the deep meaning and the glory 
of this revealed word of God." 

There is the Book — the Book of our fathers. How 
reverently they touched it; how profoundly they 
loved it; how sincerely they sought to obey it ! It is 
the Book of all ages. Its place is unique in history; 
wherever it has gone, humanity has gone; wherever 
it has gone, freedom, enlightenment, civilization have 
gone. It is the fireproof Book. Its enemies have piled 
up the parchments and consumed them in great bon- 
fires all in vain. There are to-day more Bibles than 
ever. It is published in three hundred languages and 
dialects. Its leaves flutter from the press like leaves 
from the tree of life for the healing of the nations. 
It is the Book of the centuries, and the Book of the 
times we are living in. Nothing can take its place 
The Bishop of Winchester was offended by the new 
portrait of Henry VIII, because he was represented 
with a book in his right hand which bore the words 
Verbum Dei. " Paint it out," said the Bishop; and in 
that portrait, as you may see it in the royal gallery 
to-day, the king holds in his right hand a pair of 
gloves. So would they substitute for Verbum Dei dW. 
sorts of vain philosophies, but nothing can take its 
place in the conscience and convictions of the people. 
No mode of self-culture, no moral cosmetics, no inner 
consciousness of truth, can be substituted for it. 

There is the Book. What shall be done with it ? 
^* Search it," the Master says. But first a preliminary 



62 SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. 

inquiry: Before we search the Scriptures, we must 
know whether they are worth searching or not. They 
claim to be inspired with an inspiration which gives 
them a unique place in the literature of the world. 
The word is theo-pneustoSy God-breathed. All Script- 
ure is given by inspiration — is divinely breathed. 
" Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the 
Holy Ghost." Is this true? That must be deter- 
mined before we can go further. Here is a book that 
makes a tremendous claim: it predicates its truth on 
its divine authorship. Let us determine at the outset 
the validity of this claim. Turn on the lights, pour 
on the acids. Call in your Higher Criticism. Let the 
severest tests of hostile as well as friendly scholar- 
ship be applied. Inquire if its doctrines are true, if 
its ethics are right. Test its science, test its philoso- 
phy, test its accuracy at every point. We should not 
take for our infallible rule of faith and practice a 
book that tells us fables with a " Thus saith the Lord." 
Not long ago I was informed that one of Rubens' 
pictures was for sale in a gallery nearby. On my 
way to the gallery I met a man expert in art matters, 
who said : " A Rubens, forsooth ! It is counterfeit ; 
there is not a line of Rubens in it." And I turned 
back. What did I care for a Rubens that Rubens 
never saw ? Everything depends upon the authen- 
ticity of the signature. Anybody can write a check 
and sign it " Rothschild "; but the trouble is, no 
banker would cash it. Is the Bible what it purports 
to be ? Is it a genuine autograph, bearing the true 
sign-manual of the living God ? Let us have the 
pros and cons, and let us weigh them all. We can 
only come to one of two conclusions: it is divinely 
given, or it is not. If it came from God, it can be 



SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. 63 

absolutely depended on; if not, my interest in the 
book ends here and now. It is no more to me hence- 
forth than any other of the important works of liter- 
ature. If, however, it is God-breathed, and therefore 
true and trustworthy, I am ready to take it as my 
"infallible rule of faith and practice." I will hence- 
forth take its statement as the last word respecting 
creed and conduct. And what then ? 

I. Search it. Thank God that we can! An open 
Bible is the greatest privilege of these days. It is 
accessible to all. It is no longer under the ban; it is 
no longer in the Index Expurgatorius. It is no longer 
chained to the altar, as I have seen it in the Cologne 
Cathedral, closed with golden clasps and locked. All 
praise to the noble men of Reformation times, who 
gave their lives to secure this great privilege for us. 
Dark days were those in which the sacred parchments 
were in charge of monks who spent their days in 
illuminating missals and breviaries, while the people 
under the shadow of the monasteries were dymg 
in hunger of the Word. ** There is no hope," said 
Tyndale, " for the unshod except as they shall have 
access to God's Holy Word." And again he said, **If 
God spare my life, I will, ere many years, cause that 
a boy who driveth the plough shall know more of the 
Scriptures than many a learned ecclesiastic knoweth 
in these days." The prophecy has come to pass. 
The Bible is an open book for lofty and lowly, for the 
learned and unlearned, for all sorts and conditions of 
men. 

II. But why should we search it? Because it holds 
the mystery of life. Search the Scriptures, for in 
them ye think, and rightly think, ye have eternal life. 



64 SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. 

The deep longing of every earnest soul is for eter- 
nal life. The young ruler who threw himself before 
the Master's feet intensely desired this : " Good 
Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal 
life?" The man who, in the allegory, fled from 
the City of Destruction, thrust his fingers into his 
ears, lest he should be turned aside by the appeals 
of friends and kinsfolk, and ran, crying, "Life! Life! 
Eternal Lifel" We were made in the likeness of God. 
There is something beyond and beneath the surface 
of things. Our spiritual nature craves something 
better than the world can give. The Bible holds the 
clew of the maze, and the earnestness of our search 
of the Scriptures will be measured by the sincerity of 
our longing for life. 

In one of ^Esop's fables he tells of a hound which 
was pursuing a hare, falling behind, and at length 
abandoning the chase. A goatherd who was pass- 
ing by, jeered at the hound, saying, " Shame that a 
hare should get the better of thee." ^' But you for- 
get," the hound replied, " that it is one thing to be 
running for your dinner, and another to be running 
for your life." The life that our spiritual nature 
longs for, begins here and now. The Greeks ac- 
counted for the strength of Hercules by the fact that 
the centaur, Chiron, fed him in his infancy on the 
marrow of lions. There is no diet like truth. '' Sanc- 
tify them by the truth," the Master prays for his dis- 
ciples, adding, " Thy Word is truth." Truth knits the 
muscles, calms the nerves, warms the blood. Truth 
cultivates energy, influence, character. Truth makes 
men. 

And the life that we long for, reaches on forever. 
It is eternal life, and this eternal life is found only in 



SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. 65 

Christ. He said, "I am the life." The supreme 
power of the Scriptures lies in the fact that they set 
forth Christ as the life-giver. His face shines forth 
in all the pages of the Book, 

Turn to the Old Testament for prophecy: " A 
virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and call his 
name Immanuel; which is, being interpreted, God 
with us." Turn to the New Testament for the fulfill- 
ment of that prophecy: "And they found the babe 
wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in the manger"; 
" great is the mystery of godliness, God manifested 
in the flesh." 

Turn again to the Old Testament for prophecy: 
He is "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; 
he was wounded for our transgressions, and by his 
stripes we are healed." Turn to the New Testa- 
ment for the fulfillment : "And they led him out to 
Calvary, and there they crucified him "; " he bare our 
sins in his own body on the tree "; "his blood cleanseth 
from all sin." 

Turn once more to the Old Testament for proph- 
ecy: " He will not leave my soul in hell, neither will 
he suffer his holy one to see corruption." And turn 
again to the New Testament for fulfillment: " Now is 
Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits 
of them that slept." So is come to pass the saying 
that is written : " Death is swallowed up in victory. 
O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy 
victory ? The sting of death is sin; and the strength 
of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth 
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Thus we have, in prophecy and fulfillment, in the 
Old Testament and the New, Christ assuming our 
flesh, dwelling among us, suffering for us, enduring 



66 SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. 

our shame and bondage on the cross, risen from the 
dead, and ever living to make intercession for us. 

Here is the quickening truth which we seek in 
Holy Writ; but, alas, that too often, in pursuing our 
quest, w^e should fall short of the vital truth! Ye do 
search the Scriptures, for in them ye rightly think ye 
have eternal life, and they are they which testify of 
me. Yet, alas, ye will not come unto me that ye 
might have eternal life ! 

HI. How shall we search! The word itself is sig- 
nificant; it is used of those who search for gold or for 
hid treasure. The truth, indeed, cannot be valued 
with the gold of Ophir. Search the Scriptures as 
realizing that truth is above all. 

(i) Search frankly. Put prejudice aside. Do not 
allow your self-formed opinions to give color to these 
inspired words. Do not come hither to confirm your 
previous views. It is said that Sir Isaac Newton was 
an absent-minded man, and that he tried repeatedly 
to light a candle when there was an extinguisher 
upon it. We are convicted of like folly when we 
bring our prejudices with us into the investigation of 
truth. If you are a premillenarian or a postmillenarian 
do not seek to enlist the Scriptures in behalf of your 
partisanship, but ask at the threshold of the oracles 
that the truth may be revealed to you. Or if you are 
pursuing a questionable habit, do not come to con- 
firm yourself in your indulgence by reading an apol- 
ogy into the Scriptures, but to find out with all can- 
dor what God has to say about it. 

(2) Search carefully. Read the Scriptures with 
pious regularity. Search them in the morning for the 
strength needed to face the tasks and obligations of 



SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. 67 

the busy day. Read them at night for the comfort 
you need on entering the unknown country of sleep 
and for the joy that shall come in the night watches 
as you reflect upon the sweetness of God's word. 
We are told by physicians that our health is largely 
determined by the regularity of our habits ; and 
this is true of our spiritual as well as of our bodily 
health. 

And bring all your industry to bear upon this 
sacred quest. Prospectors do not race over the fields 
and through the cafions; they stop and scrutinize 
and analyze; they are searching for gold. You are 
searching for life, and you cannot search too earnestly. 
There is an island off the Long Island coast where 
tradition says Captain Kidd buried his treasure. Its 
soil has been turned over and over, with unsparing 
toil. Let us bring a like industry to our study of 
the Scriptures. 

It is important also that we should use proper 
tools. I have little sympathy with the man who, in 
his over-zealous reverence, says, " I want nothing 
but the Bible." He is like the Egyptian farmer who 
uses only a crooked stick in turning the soil. He is a 
foolish student of the Scriptures, who will not take 
advantage of all wise labor-saving devices. Three 
books are necessary : First, a good copy of the 
Bible itself; clear type, good paper, broad margin. 
Second, a copy of Cruden's Concordance; a wonder- 
fully helpful and, I had almost said, indispensable 
book. And third, a good commentary. At the risk 
of seeming quite behind the times, let me commend 
old Matthew Henry; but any other commentary will 
answer, so long as you are quite sure that the editor 



68 SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. 

was not an irreverent and destructive critic, but a 
sincere lover of the word of God. 

(3) Search systematically. Let the Scriptures be 
read consecutively. Not all portions are for public 
reading, not all are even appropriate for the uses of 
the family altar ; but all Scripture is profitable for 
personal use, for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, 
for instruction in righteousness. George Mueller of 
Bristol Orphanage read the Bible through one hun- 
dred times in forty-seven years. Many others pursue 
a similar plan. It is not wise to confine our atten- 
tion too much to favorite chapters, but to secure a 
large grasp of the teaching of the entire word. 

But in connection with this consecutive reading of 
the Scriptures, we should study them topically above 
all. Take for example the subject of " Prayer," and 
turn to Cruden's Concordance. Here are four hundred 
and thirty-one references; look them up in your 
Bible, compare and classify, and you will have formed 
a comprehensive statement of the truth respecting 
prayer. So of other themes such as faith, charity, 
redemption and the like. This is profitable work. It 
is like mining; it is digging out gold. 

(4) Search prayerfully. We shall make little prog- 
ress in our quest unless God shall illuminate the 
pages of the book and then open our eyes to behold 
it. It is one function of the Holy Spirit to guide us 
into the truth. The boy Aladdin would have found 
little treasure had he entered the cave without his 
magic lamp; but with that in his hand, lo, the dark- 
ness was all asparkle with gold and silverand precious 
gems. Prayer is our Aladdin's lamp. Rise from 
your knees to open the book and then behold how the 
entrance of God's word giveth light. 



SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. 69 

(5) Search experimentally; that is, with the purpose 
of applying the truth and testing its quality in the 
conduct of your daily life. The only science worth 
acquiring is applied science. We have been told dur- 
ing the recent political campaign that there was great 
lack of currency in this country. But no sooner had 
the canmpaign closed than currency in vast quantities 
came out of hiding, and lo! there is abundance of it. 
There was gold hid away in strong boxes, in hollow 
trees, and under the hearthstone. What we have 
needed was not more currency, but to have our cur- 
rency put into circulation, passing from hand to hand. 
So it is with truth. The Bible is full of truth, but, 
after all, your search will be unprofitable unless the 
truth you acquire shall be used in your walk and con- 
versation; used for your personal upbuilding and 
character, and for the betterment of the world about 
you. The man who thus delights in the law of the 
Lord, meditates in it day and night, and uses it con- 
stantly, is said by the Psalmist to be "like a tree 
planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his 
fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and 
whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." 

There is the Book — Book of the ages past and of 
the ages to come. The future of all nations depends 
upon our proper use of it. The Church is pursuing 
a campaign of education. We cannot regenerate 
those who lie in darkness and the shadow of death, 
but we can carry to them the regenerating word 
through which the spirit of the living God shall con- 
vert them. Go, evangelize. Go, preach the word 
and live it. Our work will not be finished, nor shall 
we realize God's purpose in the great propaganda, 
until we shall have carried the glad tidings of these 



70 SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. 

Scriptures to the remotest parts of the earth. God 
himself will do the rest. Here is the promise: "As 
the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and 
returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and 
maketh it to bring forth and bud, that it may give 
seed to the sower and bread to the eater: so shall my 
word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall 
not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that 
which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing 
whereto I sent it." 



JOHN -THE BAPTIST. 

" I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness."— Johm i, 23. 

The Augustan era marked the flood tide of pagan 
civilization. Art, science, literature, philosophy, were 
at their very best. The splendid culture of Greece 
had lent itself to the decoration of the Imperial City. 
The schools of Athens had inclined the sturdy Ro- 
mans to divide their energies between the march of 
empire and the quest of knowledge. But what mat- 
tered it ? The Golden Age of culture was overshad- 
owed by the despair of the soul. True, Augustus, 
"finding a city of brick, transformed it into marble''; 
but the palaces which he reared were resonant with 
the orgies of nameless vice and the groans of anguish 
attendant upon it. Side by side dwelt misery and 
luxury. Here were ten thousand knights and sena- 
tors in purple and fine linen, faring sumptuously 
every day, and here were a million slaves in ergustula, 
of less worth and esteem than sheep and cattle. 
There was pride, but no purity. There was culture, 
but no charity. There were palaces, but no hospitals. 
It was a world without love. It was the beauty of 
the upas-tree, that flourishes in death. Marriage was 
neglected and laughed at. Honest toil was disreput- 
able; Rome was the paradise of paupers. " Bread and 

(7«) 



72 JOHN THE BAPTIST. 

games!" was the universal cry. Here was dissolute- 
ness unspeakable. Suicide was the fashion. As for 
religion, the gods of all nations were in the Pantheon. 
There w^as no lack of toleration; all religions were 
equally true, and all equally false. The priests 
laughed in each others' faces. The people cried, 
"Who will show us any good ?" The times were out 
of joint. 

The saving factor of this Golden Age was the Jews. 
They resisted the downward tendency. Though sub- 
jugated by Rome, they held to the worship of the one 
true God. There were three sects: Sadducees, Phari- 
sees, Essenes. The Pharisees were the conservatives, 
but their very orthodoxy was their ruin. They made 
a fetich of the outward form; new moons, holy days, 
fat of rams and fed beasts, fringes and phylacteries, 
long prayers, and works of supererogation. They 
worshipped God with their lips, but their heart was 
far from him. The Sadducees were the liberals of 
that day. They denied immortality, flouted the 
supernatural, and patronized, if they did not question, 
the doctrine of God. The Essenes, affronted by 
formalism on the one hand and infidelity on the 
other, betook themselves to the solitudes for commu- 
nion with God. 

It was four hundred years since the torch of Mal- 
achi, the last of the prophets, had gone out. Four hun- 
dred years of darkness; a deep, Egyptian night, in 
which no sound was heard but the cry of those who 
hopelessly searched for truth, and the cursing of 
those who jostled each other in their reckless way to 
death. All open vision had ceased; the lights of the 
golden candlestick in the sanctuary had been extin- 
guished. Far away seemed the voice of Malachi, as 



JOHN THE BAPTIST. 73 

he closed the oracles: " Behold^ the day cometh that shall 
burn as an oven; and all the proud^ yea^ and all that do 
wickedly^ shall be stubble : and the day that cometh shall 
burn them up. . . . But unto you that fear my name shall 
the Sun of righteousness arise^ with healing in his wings ; 
and ye shall go forth^ and grow up as calves of the stall. 
. . . Behold^ I will send you Elijah the prophet before the 
coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord j and 
he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children^ 
and the heart of the children to their fathers^ lest I come 
and smite the earth with a curse'' 

And, lo, here is the antitype of Elijah. The 
parallel is singularly close. The appearing of Elijah, 
the Tishbite, was as sudden as a meteor. He stood 
at Ahab's threshold — tall, sinewy, dark-browed, 
wrapped in a shaggy mantle, unbidden and unher- 
alded — saying, "As Jehovah God of Israel liveth, 
there shall be no rain except at my word." And be- 
fore the king could call his guards to seize him, 
he was gone. Then the three years of famine, during 
which the Tishbite flitted like a spectre between the 
king's ivory house and the defiles of the mountains, 
until at length they met on the heights of Carmel for 
the Lord's controversy. There is no more terrific 
scene in history. The king and his courtiers, prophet 
of Jehovah, and pagan priests, and the long-suffer- 
ing people were there. *'0 Baal, hear us! O Baal, hear 
us!" Then the low prayer, " O Jehovah, let it be 
known this day that thou art God in Israel!" The 
panorama moves swiftly on; the fire descending, the 
bullock blazing, the clouds gathering above, the 
people shouting, "Jehovah! he is the God! Jehovah! 
he is the God!" 

Enter Elijah's antitype. "Then cometh John 



74 JOHN THE BAPTIST. 

the Baptist out of the wilderness of Judaea" ; a thin, 
cadaverous man ; grown lean on a sparse diet of 
locusts and wild honey ; clad in camel's hair, and 
girt about his loins with a leathern girdle ; erect and 
unbending as his sense of duty. He stands at Beth- 
abara by the Jordan, and all Jerusalem and Judaea 
are come to hear his message. He is the wonder 
of the time. The last word is, " Have ye seen the 
prophet in the wilderness ? " Priests, rulers, soldiers, 
people, gather about him. Many who come to 
scoff, remain to pray. Let us stand among them. 
What is the message that he brings us ? 

I. The Kingdom. " The kingdom of heaven is at 
hand." He announces a new cycle, a new order of 
things. A belated son of the Old Economy, he does 
not himself belong to this kingdom of gospel privi- 
lege, but holds open the door that multitudes may 
enter. The Master said, " What went ye out into the 
wilderness to see ? a reed shaken with the wind ? 
But what went ye out for to see ? a man clothed in 
soft raiment ? Behold, such are in kings' houses. 
But what went ye out for to see ? a prophet ? yea, I 
say unto you, and more than a prophet. Verily, I say 
unto you, Among them that are born of women, there 
hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist : not- 
withstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of 
heaven is greater than he." 

But what is this " kingdom " ? It is variously 
called "the kingdom of God," "the kingdom of 
heaven," " the kingdom of Christ." It is important 
that we should understand the kingdom, for here is 
the key of the Scriptures, the clew of the mystery. 
The Gospel of Christ is the Gospel of the Kingdom. 



JOHN THE BAPTIST. 75 

It means the reign of Jehovah, beginning in the indi- 
vidual soul and extending itself into the home-life, 
the neighborhood and the nation, completing the 
universal symphony of worship of the living God. 

(i) // has its beginning in the individual soul ; as 
Jesus said, '• The kingdom of heaven is within you." 
And again, " Verily, verily I say unto you, except 
a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of 
God. And except a man be born of water and the 
spirit/' that is, of purifying and quickening energy, 
" he cannot enter the kingdom of God." 

(2) It finds its outward manifestation in the visible 
Church, The Church indeed is not what it ought to 
be, for the wheat and tares must grow together until 
the harvesting and winnowing of the great day. Let 
this be remembered, however, that the Church, as it 
exists, is a divine institution, and through this living 
organism God is working for the deliverance of the 
world. This is a fact to be remembered by those 
who hold themselves aloof. Dr. Johnson said of his 
friend. Dr. John Campbell, a distinguished political 
writer of that time, " He is a good man ; to be sure 
he is not in the habit of attending church, but to my 
knowledge he never passes a sacred edifice without 
removing his hat." There are multitudes of serious 
people who assume the same attitude toward the 
Church. Let them consider that, whatever its faults, 
it represents the accumulated sum and substance of 
evangelizing effort on earth ; and if so, all who are 
in sympathy with its supreme purpose, should be as- 
sociated with it. 

(3) It finds its ultimate consummation in the millenial 
glory of Christ. This is the fifth monarchy of Daniel. 



76 JOHN THE BAPTIST. 

He saw the great image ; head of gold, breast of 
silver, thighs of brass, legs of iron and feet of clay, 
representing the successive powers of Babylonia, Me- 
do-Persia, Greece and Rome. And then a stone hewn 
out of the mountain rolled toward it and smote the 
great image and ground it to powder, which was 
swept away as chaff is blown from the threshing-floor. 
And, lo, the stone hewn out of the mountain increased 
until it became itself a mountain which filled the 
whole earth. This is the ultimate kingdom. The 
largest prayer that any Christian can offer is, " Thy 
kingdom come." The supreme duty of every Chris- 
tian is set forth in these words, " Seek ye first of all 
the kingdom." When this prayer shall rise from the 
earnest hearts of all believers, and this duty shall be 
universally discharged, the vision of St. John the 
evangelist will be fulfilled : " I saw the new Jerusalem, 
coming down from God, out of heaven, prepared as 
a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a 
great voice saying. Behold the tabernacle of God is 
with men, and he will dwell with them and they shall 
be his people, and God himself shall be their God." 

II. Repentance. " Repent ye, for the kingdom of 
heaven is at hand." What is repentance ? The word 
is metanota, meaning a change of heart, conscience and 
will. Right about face ! The face of rulers and 
people in the Baptist's time was set toward sin and 
death. In repentance they were to turn about and 
look toward truth and righteousness. This is the 
preparation for the coming of the King. It rests 
on three important facts : 

(i) Sin. The preaching of John the Baptist was 
a plain setting forth of sin. This sort of preaching 



JOHN THE BAPTIST. 77 

is measurably gone out of fashion ; but it is indeed 
as necessary as ever, and as necessary in the Church 
as outside it. We who profess the Christian life, are 
wont to think that sermons on sin are for sinners, 
and by sinners we mean the impenitent. In point of 
fact, however, we are all sinners ; some of us sinners 
in grace, others sinners against grace, but there is no 
difference, for all have sinned and come short of the 
glory of God. We need to know better and better 
the true character of sin, that we may hate and abhor 
and avoid it. Let the Master come, and with his 
scourge of small cords purge the temple. Judgment 
must begin at the house of God. 

(2) Judgment. *' The axe is laid at the root of the 
tree.' It is the gleaming of the cold blade that 
flashed at the gate of Paradise when the first sinner 
passed out ; the sword in the hand of the destroying 
angel that passed over Egypt at midnight. " His fan is 
in his hand and he shall thoroughly purge his thresh- 
ing-floor, and the chaff shall he burn with unquench- 
able fire." It is the same fire that cast its lurid glow 
on Belshazzar's wall when the spectral hand wrote, 
^^ Mene, MenCy Tekel^ Upharsin!'' — the same fire that 
gleamed on all the hillsides round about Jerusalem, 
when Titus reduced the Holy City. *' Be not de- 
ceived ; God is not mocked ; whatsoever a man 
soweth, that shall he also reap." This was the truth 
that Peter preached at Pentecost when his congrega- 
tion was pricked to the heart. This is the truth that 
Jonathan Edwards preached from the text, *' Their 
feet shall slide in due time," when the people rose 
and grasped the pillars of the church in terror and 
cried to God for mercy. This is the truth that Luther 



78 JOHN THE BAPTIST. 

preached in the mighty days of the Reformation and 
embodied in his hymn : 

Great God, what do I see and hear? 

The end of things created, 
The Judge of all mankind appear 

In crowds of glory seated. 
The trumpet sounds, the graves restore 
The dead whom they contained before ; 

Prepare, my soul, to meet Him. 

(3) Reformation. " Bring ye forth fruits meet for 
repentance." To the tax-gatherers the Baptist said, 
" If ye would prove the sincerity of your repentance, 
cease from your extortions" ; to the soldiers, "desist 
from your violence " ; to the priests and Pharisees, 
'■'' O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to 
flee from the wrath to come? bring ye forth fruits 
meet for repentance." 

This was the meaning of John's baptism. It sym- 
bolized the putting off of evil deeds in preparation 
for the kingdom. " I indeed baptize you with water, 
but there standeth one among you, whose shoe's 
latchet I am not worthy to unloose ; he shall baptize 
you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." 

III. Behold the Lamb of God. This is the conclu- 
sion of all Christian discourse. Terrible preaching 
was that of John the Baptist, except as his hearers 
followed him to the last word. Did you hear him 
say, " Repent ye " ? Did you hear him say, ** The 
axe is laid at the root of the tree " ? Did you hear 
him say, " The King, when he cometh, shall have a 
fan in his hand and shall thoroughly purge the floor, 
and he shall burn up the chaff with unquenchable 
fire " ? Dreadful truths indeed. But did you hear 



JOHN THE BAPTIST. 79 

him say, *' Behold the Lamb of God " ? What is the 
Law indeed but a schoolmaster to lead us all to Christ ? 
Behold him, therefore ! Behold the Lamb of God ! 

(i) Behold him as an objective fact. See him yonder 
on Calvary, nailed to the accursed tree. The begin- 
ning of wisdom is attention. " Look," cried Moses, 
"on the brazen serpent. Look and live!" Let us gaze 
upon the cross, therefore, until the great historic fact 
shall impress itself upon us, until the eye affecteth the 
heart, and the heart affecteth the life. 

(2) Behold him as a subjective fact ; that is, receive 
him into your heart and conscience, so that you may 
say, " My Saviour and my Lord !" Cato, the younger, 
was asked in his boyhood, ''Who is nearest to your 
heart?" He replied, "My brother." " Who is next .?" 
Again, "My brother." "And who is next ? " And 
still, "My brother." Thus let us receive Christ until 
every thought is brought under subjection to him. 
Let us so appropriate him, the merits of his death 
and the power of his example, that we may say, 
"Christ first, last, midst, and all in all!" 

(3) Behold him as a universal fact, the great, living 
power of the spiritual realm. He is the great mag- 
net, who, being uplifted, shall draw all men unto him. 
The world is to be saved by the preaching of Christ. 
I hate the words, " Holy Orders." The pews as well 
as the pulpit are ordained to the preaching of the 
glorious gospel. Preaching is telling the glad news. 
Let all who love our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, 
preach him by seasonable words, by right living in 
walk and conversation, always and everywhere. A 
sermon, whether from the pulpit or the pew, which 
does not thus exalt Christ, is no sermon at all. Dr. 



8o JOHN THE BAPTIST. 

McCosh, in his early ministry, asked Sir William 
Hamilton whom he thought to be the greatest living 
preacher. The answer was, Dr. Guthrie. " Dr. 
Guthrie! His sermons are without argument; he 
does not know the power of a syllogism; there is but 
one step from his premise to his conclusion." *' Aye," 
said Sir William, "but that one step brings us into 
the presence of God." 

This was the preaching of John the Baptist: The 
kingdo?n^ repentaiice^ the La??ib of God. And so he van- 
ishes from sight. Here the parallel ceases. A fiery 
chariot came down out of heaven for Elijah, the open- 
ing clouds received him, while down below the la- 
mentable cry was heard, " O my father! my father! 
the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof!" 
But how went John the Baptist to his rest and his 
reward ? Out of the lone prison, Machaerus by the 
Dead Sea, he followed his executioner to the block, 
and his head was carried thence to the palace to sat- 
isfy a woman's whim. A gory head on a charger! 
The flaming light of his great eyes is quenched. The 
lips that preached of sin, and judgment, and the 
Lamb, are cold and still. But what matters it? He 
was but a voice, and the voice lingers still. Being 
dead, he yet speaketh. Long centuries have passed, 
and still we hear him: "Repent ye, for the kingdom 
of heaven is at hand. Bring forth fruits meet for 
repentance. There cometh one whose shoe's latchet 
I am not worthy to unloose. Behold the Lamb of 
God!" 



THE OUTSIDE OF THE PLATTER. 

"Now do ye make clean the outside of the cup and the platter." — Luke xi. 39. 

The reference is to the superficial piety of the 
Pharisees. They had more regard for the outside of 
the cup than for the wholesomeness of the draught 
within it. They were much given to external rites 
and ceremonies. The most important of the six 
books of the Mishna is devoted to purifications. The 
washing of the hands is prescribed with utmost par- 
ticularity: One and one-half eggshells full of water 
must be used; the hands must be lifted in a certain 
position when the water is poured upon them; then 
the right must rub the left, and the left the right; 
then they must be held at a downward incline so that 
the water may drip off. And the towel must be 
properly held. The schools of Hillel and Shammai 
were wont to discuss with great earnestness the hold- 
ing of the towel. Furthermore, there were thirty 
chapters bearing on the cleansing of cups and plat- 
ters. The ceremony is called Kelim. At the mar- 
riage supper of Cana there were six water pots con- 
taining not less than twenty gallons each, ready for 
this use. And this was but an inconsiderable part of 
the elaborate ceremonial of orthodox Jewish life. 
On the 15th of Adar, every year, it was appointed 

(81) 



82 THE OUTSIDE OF THE PLATTER. 

that the people should go out and whitewash the 
tombs of the departed. In many cases, doubtless, this 
was not so much out of respect to the dead as to 
make their grief conspicuous; for these sepulchres 
were arranged along the public roads. 

How the Lord Christ hated all shams! The Phari- 
sees stood before him in their frontlets and phylac- 
teries, as if to say, '' Behold how fair! " He tore 
away the turf and exposed the dismal fraud: " Woe 
unto you, ye hypocrites! Ye are as whited sepul- 
chres, fair without, but within full of dead men's 
bones and all uncleanness." 

But the Pharisees are dead. We have to do, not 
with the faults and follies of long centuries ago, but 
with the superficial piety of to-day. God sees us 
through and through. It is monstrous trifling to be 
tithing mint, anise and cummin, while neglecting the 
weightier matters of law. The form of godliness with- 
out the power thereof is but the garniture of death. 
Man looketh on the outward appearance, but God 
looketh on the heart. 

The fault lies at the very beginning. Well begun is 
half done. Ill begun means staggering and stum- 
bling all along the way. We speak of being ''soundly 
converted"; in point of fact, however, there is only 
one sort of conversion, namely, that which turns the 
whole man right about in a thorough and unreserved 
consecration to the service of God. 

We are hoping and praying for a revival. And, 
thank God, there are signs of moving in the tops of 
the mulberry trees. Come, Holy Spirit, and baptize 
our churches and this community with a baptism of 
fire and power! But there is danger. The best infec- 
tion in the world is that of religious fervor; but there 



THE OUTSIDE OF THE PLATTER. 83 

are always some who go with the multitude through 
sympathy and in a little while fall out along the way. 

Our Lord, in the parable of the sower, spoke of 
stony ground where there was not much earth, and 
the seed which fell upon it forthwith sprang up, only 
to be scorched and withered when the sun rose upon 
it. His disciples asked him for an explanation. And 
he said, " These are they which hear the word and 
anon with joy receive it ; yet have they no root in 
themselves, but dure for a while; for when tribulation 
and persecution ariseth, by and by they are offended." 
Have you never known such ? I recently met a 
friend who, as far back as I remember, was wont to 
profess conversion in the winter with a reasonable 
certainty of falling from grace before the spring had 
fully come. Let it be understood that there is a vital 
difference between faith and feeling ; the latter is to 
the former as a burst of the Marseillaise on a fete day 
is to the battle of Waterloo. Religion is founded on 
principle, and, feeling or no feeling, it proceeds with 
its tasks. If the stars go out, it finds its way, like a 
skilful mariner, by a ** dead reckoning." 

In times of general religious interest it is well to 
remember two things : First, Act. Do not be afraid 
to act on impulse. If it were done, when 'tis done, 
then 'twere well it were done quickly. The issues at 
stake are so momentous that there should be no delay. 
Second, Act advisedly — count the cost. Third, Act im- 
mediately — deliberation does not mean delay. The 
gunner in the thick of conflict must not fire at random, 
but must fire at once. 

Our Lord on one occasion declined the service 
of three men who desired to follow him. One said, 
without having fully thought the matter over, " Lord, 



84 THE OUTSIDE OF THE PLATTER. 

I will follow thee." He answered, "The foxes have 
holes and the birds of air have nests ; but the Son of 
Man hath not where to lay his head." The second 
said, "Lord, I will follow thee ; but suffer me first to 
bury my father." He answered, "Let the dead bury 
their own dead ; but go thou and declare the king- 
dom of God." The third said, "Lord, I will follow 
thee, but let me first bid farewell to the loved ones at 
home." He answered, " He that putteth his hand to 
the plough, and looketh back, is not worthy the king- 
dom of God." 

It is for want of a wise consideration of the true 
significance of the Christian life that so many, begin- 
ning wrong, fail to hold out. In fact, their religion is 
merely superficial. It is not always insincere, but it 
is always inadequate to meet the demands of their 
souls or to please God. 

I. The Religion of Form j tithes and fastings, 
fringes and phylacteries, 

I know of a church not a thousand miles away, 
where young ladies of a sentimental age, particularly, 
are wont to resort for the worship of God. It is a 
Protestant church with Romanist leanings. It has 
not the courage to go nor the honesty to stay. The 
preaching is a ten minute affair, and below mediocrity. 
But the rites and ceremonies ; the boy choir, the im- 
posing processionals and recessionals, the bowings 
and genuflections, the swinging of censers, the lifting 
of the mass, the holy millinery, the dim religious 
light ! It is enough to make an angel — weep, or 
laugh ? The effect of such a performance is wholly 
sensuous. 

It was the opinion of Professor Tyndall that devo- 
tion is purely a mechanical effect. He says, " I have 



THE OUTSIDE OF THE PLATTER. 85 

watched with deep interest and sympathy the counte- 
nances of some worshippers. I have seen a penitent 
kneeling at a distance from the shrine of the Virgin, 
as if afraid to come nearer. Suddenly, a glow has 
overspread her countenance, strengthening its radi- 
ance, until her very soul seemed shining through her 
features ; sure of her acceptance, she has confidently 
advanced, fallen prostrate, immediately in front of 
the image, and remained there for a time in silent 
ecstacy. I have watched the ebbing of the spiritual 
tide, and remarked the felicitous repose which it left 
behind." He makes use of this to illustrate his 
theory of heat as a mode of motion! If this were the 
only form of religion, we should be slow to blame 
such scientists for refusing to accept it. 

II. The Religion of Rhapsody, An impression seems 
to prevail in some quarters that piety consists alone 
in affection for Christ. This is indeed necessary, but 
not the whole of it. A man may cry, " Christ! 
Christ! " with no more piety than other people. The 
craze for Paderewski does not prove that all his 
enthusiastic admirers are musical experts. No man 
has paid more glowing tributes to Jesus of Nazareth 
than Ernest Renan. It was he who said, " Whatever 
may be the surprises of the future, Jesus will never 
be surpassed." It was he who said, "All ages will 
proclaim that among the sons of men there is none 
born greater than Jesus." Yet Renan did not pro- 
fess to be a Christian; indeed he was an open and 
avowed antagonist of the truths and precepts which 
Jesus taught. 

A play is being enacted at one of our theatres 
just now, which some Christian people are patroniz- 



S6 THE OUTSIDE OF THE PLATTER. 

ing because it bears a religious title. It is highly 
commended by a distinguished ecclesiastic who calls 
it "a commentary upon the power of the cross and 
the sustentation of redeeming love." If journal- 
istic descriptions of it be correct, one of its scenes is 
so realistic in gross suggestion that it is inconceivable 
how a pure man or woman can sit through it. Be- 
hold the hypocrisy of vice. Judas Iscariot who sold 
his Lord for thirty pieces of silver is outdone. A seduc- 
tion scene on Calvary ! Can blasphemy farther go? 
If we m.ust choose between the stench of vaudeville 
and the brimstone flavor of simony affecting the role 
of Christian devotion, let us by all means have the 
genuine thing. The world hates a lie. The woman 
w^hose feet take hold on hell is bad enough as she 
stands in her doorway flaunting her shame, and beck- 
oning to the passer-by; but worse, a thousandfold 
worse, is the painted thing that wears a lily on her 
breast, holds a crucifix in her hand and throws her 
vile garments over the effigy of Christ upon his 
Cross. Yet there are people who, because the name 
of the Redeemer is associated with this play, will 
think themselves pious in patronizing it. 

Ill, T/ie Religion of Fhilosophy. This a mere af- 
fectation. We preachers are greatly given to it. We 
treat religion as if it were a system of profound truths, 
when in point of fact — whatever may be said about 
theology — religion is simplicity itself. Here is an 
extract from a sermon quoted by Paxton Hood: 
"The incomprehensibility of the apparatus devel- 
oped in the machinery of the universe, may be con- 
sidered a supereminent manifestation of stupendous 
majesties, whether a man stands upon the platform 



THE OUTSIDE OF THE PLATTER. Sj 

of his own mind and ponders scrutinizingly on its 
undecipherable characters, or whether he looks 
abroad over the n:iagnificent equipments and regali- 
ties of nature, surveying its amplitudes in all their 
scope, and its unfathomabilities in all their profundi- 
ties." What in the world is this man trying to say ? 
This: *' When I consider the heavens the work of thy 
fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast or- 
dained; what is man that thou art mindful of him 
and the son of man that thou regardest him ? " Then 
why did he not say it ? Is not this indeed monstrous 
trifling"? The people are not deceived by this affec- 
tation of superior wisdom on sesquipedalian phrases. 
In the House of Representatives, a member sat as 
if lost in meditation, with his index finger upon his 
brow. "What is he doing ? " asked one ; " is he think- 
ing ? " ** Well," was the reply, " he is thinking that he 
is thinking." There is little or no room for this sort 
of thing in connection with a religion in which all its 
saving power is transparent as the light. " I thank 
thee. Father," said Jesus, " that thou hast hidden 
these things from the wise and prudent and hast 
revealed them unto babes." And again, "Except ye 
become as little children, ye shall in no wise see the 
kingdom of God." 

IV. TAe Religion of Self -culture. I believe in the 
Higher Life ; but I do not believe that the business 
of a Christian is to seek it in an introspective way. 
I believe in spirituality. But what is spirituality save 
the influence of God's Spirit upon the whole nature 
of man ? 

The objection to much that is said about self- 
culture in these times is two-fold : First, // is not 



88 THE OUTSIDE OF THE PLATTER. 

always modest. In this it takes issue with the Spirit 
himself. The modesty of the Holy Ghost is one of 
his splendid attributes ; " He shall not speak of him- 
self." If you feel, my friend, that you are growing 
in holiness, then by all means thank God and keep 
quiet about it. 

And second, // is purely selfish, as its name self -cul- 
ture suggests. There is a malady, largely confined to 
higher social circles, known as nervous debility. One 
way of successfully treating it is by massage. The 
whole body is stimulated by rubbing. As a rule, how- 
ever, the same result would probably be gained by 
sawing wood or attending to household tasks. Much of 
our Christian debility — and God knows we are not 
what we ought to be — is due to overmuch introspection 
and concern about ourselves. The best prescription 
for us is that of Dr. Abernethy, "Do something for 
somebody." If we busy ourselves in looking after 
others, it is immensely probable that God will look 
after us. The captain of an Atlantic liner must not 
be over-nervous about his own life-preserver ; his 
main business is to get his passengers safe over 
the sea. 

V. The Religion of Altruism. This is extremely 
popular just now. A convention of Altruists, after 
holding its sessions continuously for some days and 
discussing a variety of sociological problems, has just 
adjourned. We shall await with interest the practical 
altruism of these people in the interim. The fact is 
that almost all the humanitarian enterprises on earth 
are carried on by the Church of Jesus Christ. Secular 
reformers meet and adjourn ; but the church has been 
in session ever since the day of pentecost. 



THE OUTSIDE OF THE PLATTER. 89 

It should be remembered that pity, kindness, be- 
nevolence, is not the highest element of humanity. 
We share it with the lower orders of life. In Dore's 
picture of the Deluge a mother is represented clinging 
to the rock with one hand and with the other reaching 
out into the surging flood to save her drowning child. 
Magnificent ! But look, yonder on the summit of the 
rock is a tigress who has climbed thither for safety, 
and on her back is her cub. 

Let it be remembered, also, that much of boastful 
altruism is mere sentiment. A mother desiring to 
adopt a child, is very particular at the foundling's 
home to ask for a blue-eyed baby. The most success- 
ful beggars along the street are "interesting ones"; 
blind paupers with sweet faces, charming unfortu- 
nates. But who shall care for the repulsive ; those 
whose faces are eaten away with cancer, the lepers 
and the pariahs ? Sentimentalists will pass them by ; 
only those who are moved by principle will assist 
them. True benevolence is more than an emotion ; it 
rests upon the fact that all these who suffer are our 
kinsfolk, because there is one God and Father of us 
all ; and because he who, being our elder brother, 
would bring us back to the All-Father, has suffered 
and died for all. Thus he said, " Whosoever shall 
give a cup of cold water to one of these for my sake, 
shall not fail of his reward." And again, '* Inasmuch 
as ye have done it unto one of the least of these uiy 
brethren, ye have done it unto me." 

Let us hear then the conclusion of the whole matter. 
The only religion which can fully meet the divine 
requirement is that which takes hold of our entire 
nature. It is not enough that it shall touch us at a 
single point. It must reach the heart as well as the 



90 THE OUTSIDE OF THE PLATTER. 

reason, and the conscience as well as the heart. It 
must take possession of mind, conscience, heart, and 
will ; eyes and ears ; hands and feet. It must so 
penetrate us through and through, so permeate us, 
that our whole life and character and being shall be 
full of light. 

Furthermore, the religion which meets the divine 
requirement, must not only give God possession of 
the entire mind, but must place the mind in posses- 
sion of the entire Christ. It is not enough that I shall 
"come to Jesus"; I must come to the Lord Jesus 
Christ. He is Jesus, my brother. Aye, and more. 
He is Messiah the Christ. Aye, and more still. He 
is Christ Jesus my Lord ; my Lord, to protect^ com- 
mand, rule over me. 

To accept him is to receive him into my life as 
Prophet, Priest and King. As Priest, he atones for 
me ; as Prophet, he instructs me, sitting at his feet, 
in such wise that his word becomes my creed; as 
King, his command is ultimate law to me, and every 
thought is brought into subjection to him. 

Two words in conclusion : " Pure religion and un- 
defiled before God and the Father is this : To visit 
the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to 
keep one's self unspotted from the world." And again, 
"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, 
take up his cross, and follow me." 



"THE KENOSIS." 

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the 
form of God, thought it not robbery [a prize, a thing to be jealously cher. 
ished] to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation [literally, 
emptied himself], and took upon him the form of a servant, and was 
made in the likeness of men : And being found in fashion as a man, he 
humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the 
cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a 
name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under 
the earth ; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is 
Lord, to the glory of God the Father."— Phil. ii. s-ii. 

All right-thinking men are anxious to succeed. 
But what is the secret of success ? There is a wide 
difference of opinion. William E. Dodge said, "The 
secret is fair dealing"; General Howard, "Diligence 
and fearlessness"; John Wanamaker, " Doe ye nexte 
thynge"; Neal Dow, '"''Res non verba'' (which being 
interpreted is, "Do noble things, not dream them all 
day long"); Bishop Vincent, "An entire surrender to 
the demands of duty"; Dr. John M. Ferris, "Do with 
all your might what God gives you to do"; John 
Ruskin, " To-day." 

Let it be observed, however, that the men who 
thus express themselves have been successful only in 
a relative sense. The tomb of the man who has at- 
tained to the highest measure of success has over 
it a broken shaft, symbolical of an unfinished work, a 
life cut in sunder. Indeed, there never lived but one 

(91) 



92 

man who could truthfully say that he had finished the 
work which God gave him to do. The Lord Jesus 
Christ came into the world to accomplish a definite 
purpose, and he fully accomplished it. His last word 
was, *' It is finished!" If we would attain to the high- 
est success, therefore, we must catch his spirit; or, as 
Paul puts it, " Let this mind be in you that was also 
in Christ Jesus." 

But this mind that was in Christ Jesus, what is it ? 
The matter is made clear in these words, " He, being 
in the form of God, thought it not a matter of su- 
preme importance to be equal with God; but emptied 
himself and took upon him the form of a servant, and 
was made in the likeness of men." This is the doc- 
trine of the Kenosis, or emptying of Christ. Eder- 
sheim calls it " His self-exinanition." What is meant 
by it? 

I. Here is a suggestion at the outset of what Pear- 
son calls the precedent plenitude of Christ. There must 
have been a fulness before there could be an empty- 
ing. This leads us to consider the antecedent glory 
of Christ, which is fully set forth by the evangelist 
thus: " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word 
was with God, and the Word was God." 

(i) Christ was *"' in the beginning.'' Here is a sepa- 
rating gulf between him and all the children of men. 
He was the pre-existent One Plato spoke of dreams 
and memories which were like rustling wings, sug^ 
gesting a former life. The Buddhists have much to 
say about the re-incarnation of a soul in various forms. 
Theosophists also are wont to theorize about pre- 
existence. In point of fact, however, there is not one 
iot or tittle of evidence to sustain it. The first chap- 



**THE KENOSIS. ' 93 

ter of every human life is terrestrial birth. *' Our 
birth is our beginning." Not so with Christ. Our 
immortality is unto everlasting; his life is sempiternal 
■ — that is, from everlasting to everlasting. Our life is 
without end; the life of the Son of God is without 
beginning and without end. He is Alpha and Omega; 
the beginning and the end. He said, " Before Abra- 
ham was, I am "; not " I was," but *' I am " — thus tak- 
ing to himself the incommunicable name by which 
God expresses his self-existence — ** I am that I am." 

(2) He was in the begiiining ^^ with God^ That is, 
he had a distinct personality. He was in the com- 
pany or by the side of God. The same truth is ex- 
pressed in many ways: The Father is the Sender, 
Christ is the Sent; the Father is the Giver, Christ is 
the Gift — the unspeakable Gift. 

(3) He ^^was God.'' Or, as the Nicene creed puts 
it, "Very God of Very God." Our Lord over and 
over again made this distinct claim. When Philip 
said to him, " Show us the Father and it sufficeth us," 
Jesus replied, ''Have I been so long a time with 
you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip ? he that 
hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest 
thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not 
that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" 
Here is a great mystery — the three in one. It is not 
against reason — any more than the fact that light, 
heat and electricity are combined in a single flame; 
but it is above reason. It must needs be so, inasmuch 
as a man cannot hold the ocean in the palm of his 
hand. God would not be the infinite God, if the fin- 
ite mind could comprehend him. The doctrine of the 
Trinity is mysterious, but true. 



94 

In the Norse mythology, it is said that Thor on 
his visit to Jotunheim, was required to show his power 
by draining a great horn. He drank and drank with, 
out effect, for he was trying to drink the ocean dry. 
So is it with the man who thinks to fathom the, 
thought of God. It is indeed impossible to explain 
the doctrine of the Trinity; but, let it be observed, it is 
equally impossible, consistently with sound logic, to 
disprove or deny it. 

II. We now come to t/ie Keiwsis or Self- Emptying 
of Christ. What was it that he gave up when he '' took 
upon him the form of a servant and was made in the 
likeness of men"? His Godhood ? No; but the '' form" 
of it. His essential glory? No; but the "form" 
of it. 

It must have been a great day in heaven when the 
Second Person of the Godhead set ou^ ^or earth to 
accomplish his great work. How angels and arch- 
angels, who had been wont to veil their faces before 
the effulgence of his glory, must have sent benedic- 
tions after him! He vanished; and when next he ap- 
peared, lo! it was as a child wrapped in swaddling 
bands and lying in a manger. Between the gate of 
heaven and Bethlehem, something had fallen from 
him. Not his Godhood; it is unthinkable that he 
should cease to be God. But he had lost the outward 
form of deity. There was no halo about the Christ- 
child. There was no form, nor comeliness, nor any 
beauty that we should desire him. He had emptied 
himself of the form of God, and taken upon him the 
form of a man. He was exclusively neither God nor 
man; but Theanthropos, the God-Man. 

He was made in this '' fashion " foi a three- 



" THE KENOSIS. 95 

fold purpose : (i) To enter so into participation of 
our human nature, that he might become a high 
priest able to be touched with a feeling of our infir- 
mities; (2) to veil in such wise the divine majesty, 
upon which no man can look and live, as to adjust it 
to our fleshly eyes; and (3) to prepare himself for the 
great sacrifice. As Anselm says, '' He must be man 
that he may suffer, and by the same token he must be 
God, that he may suffer enough for all the children 
of men." 

Let it be remembered, however, that in emptying 
himself of the form, he still retained the essential 
glory of God. Now and then his disciples caught a 
glimpse of it. On the Mount of Transfiguration in 
the shadow of the luminous cloud, his garments were 
white and glistering, and his face as the sun shining 
in its strength. 

In like manner he emptied himself of the outward 
form and exercise of his divine attributes. In becom- 
ing a servant, he held these prerogatives in abeyance. 
But they were always at his command, standing 
about him like genii awaiting his nod and beck. 

Where was his om?itpresence ? He whom the heaven 
of heavens could not contain, consented to be enclosed 
within the narrow bounds of a manger, a carpenter- 
shop, a judgment-hall. Yet on occasion barred doors 
and gates could not restrain him. And his conscious- 
ness of ubiquity was manifest in his promise, " Lo, I 
am with you alway." 

Where was his omniscience? In speaking of the 
Great Assize, he said, "But of the day and hour 
knoweth no man, no, not the Son, but the Father 
only." In other words, he had put away the exercise 
of his omniscience. Yet on occasion he recalled it; 



g6 " THE KENOSIS." 

as when he perceived past and future events, and de- 
clared his acquaintance with the secret imaginations 
of the hearts of men. AH things were naked and open 
before him. There was indeed an obscuration, but 
in no wise an obliteration, of his power of infinite 
sight. He was the great mind-reader. He needed no 
cathode rays to help him. 

And where was his omnipotence'^ He who created 
the worlds, consented to earn his livelihood in a car- 
penter-shop. He was anhungered and athirst, like 
other men; he lay asleep on the steersman's cushion 
of the little boat, wearied with the labors of the day; 
but mark, when the storm rises, and the sailors bend 
over him, crying, " Master, carest thou not that we 
perish?" how he summons his almighty power, lifts 
his hands above the surging waves, and quiets them 
by his word, "Be still!" until, like naughty children, 
the winds and billows sob themselves to sleep. 

But in his death this '* Self-Emptying " went 
further still. " He became obedient unto death'' The 
self-existent One, centre and source of life itself, 
bowed to the king of terrors, yet still remained Prince 
of Life. When Peter drew the sword in Gethsemane 
Jesus rebuked him, saying, " Thinkest thou that I 
cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall pres- 
ently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" 
In other words, if he consented to die, it was not 
because he had not the power to live. "I have 
power to lay down my life," said he, " and I have 
power to take it again." So when Pilate said, 
" Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee 
and power to release thee?" he answered, ''Thou 
couldest have no power at all against me, except it 
were given thee from above." He was not a strug- 



" THE KENOSIS. 97 

gling victim like Iphigeneia, the daughter of Aga- 
memnon, who was dragged to the altar for the deliv- 
erance of the Greeks. He came to Calvary as a vol- 
unteer, saying, " Here am I, in the volume of the 
book it is written of me, I rejoice to do thy will, O 
my God." He addressed himself to his great purpose 
in pursuance of an eternal covenant for the salvation 
of ruined men. In full possession of infinite power, 
he chose to be feeble like other men. 

Nor was this all He became obedient, not to 
death alone, but to f/ie death of the cross ; that is, he 
emptied himself of the form of innocency, consenting 
to take the place of a malefactor, that he might die 
for all malefactors on the accursed tree. 

At this point he reached the lowest depth of his 
humiliation; he, the only Innocent One, " was made a 
curse for us." Aye, in that supreme moment he emp- 
tied himself even of the consciousness of his own in- 
tegrity, and entered into full identity with guilty 
men. He in whose heart and upon whose lips was 
found no guile, made the world's sin his own. The 
purple cup which he pressed to his lips in the garden 
of Gethsemane, was filled with the bitter draught of 
conviction. Little wonder that he cried, '' O my 
Father, if it be possible, lee this cup pass from me." 
But he drank it; that is, he bare for us in his own 
consciousness the anguish of conviction — the sense of 
ill-doing and certain fearful looking-for of judg- 
ment — which comes sooner or later to every man. 

Not only so, but he lifted the burden of the world's 
sin and bore it to Calvary until his heart broke under 
it. ** He that knew no sin, was made sin for us, that 
we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 
He went out into the outer darkness of expiation. 



98 " THE KENOSIS." 

He went down into the lowest depths of penalty. He 
could not actually surrender his holiness, but he did 
actually surrender the consciousness of it. The 
fashion of his innocency was laid aside like a garment, 
that he might be clothed upon with the shame of 
human guilt. He became obedient, not only to phys 
ical death, but to spiritual death in our behalf; to that 
death which, under the law, is imposed upon the sin- 
ner: ''The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Not other- 
wise can we understand the awful cry that marked 
the consummation of his anguish on the cross, " Eloi, 
Eloi, lama sabachthani ?" Thus, infinite as he was, 
made up of all divine excellencies, holy, harmless and 
undefiled, free from the slightest taint of personal sin, 
he, changing places with us, became in his own con- 
sciousness the great sufferer for sin. He descended 
into hell for us! 

HI. Now the sequel. " Wherefore God hath highly 
exalted him and given him a name which is above 
every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow." 

The great work being over, the mighty purpose 
accomplished, he re-assumed the form, the fashion, the 
resplendent glory, which had been his from the 
beginning of the ages. To his disciples he said, " If 
ye loved me ye would rejoice, because I go unto my 
Father; for my Father is greater than I "; that is, ye 
would rejoice because out of my earthly humiliation 
I go to resume my co-equality with God. In his 
sacerdotal prayer he said, " Father I will that they 
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I 
am, that they may behold my glory, the glory which 
I had with thee before the world was." 

The new name which is given to him by reason of 



" THE KENOSIS." 99 

his accomplished work, is Jesus; they ** called his 
name Jesus because he should save his people from 
their sins." On March 4th, 1493, Columbus, return- 
ing from his voyage of discovery, dropped anchor off 
Lisbon. He was received and escorted to Barcelona, 
where in the presence of king and courtiers he told 
his story of the new world Here were gold and 
silver and parrots, and nine Indians whom he had 
brought back with him. He had sailed foith as 
^'Admiral of the Seas," but now a new name was 
given him, "The Discoverer of the New World." He 
was made a grandee and permitted to ride in triumph 
at the king's bridle. A new and magnificent escutch- 
eon was blazoned for him; the Lion of Castile blend- 
ing with the four anchors of his ancestral crest. So 
Christ on his return to the celestial kingdom was 
welcomed as Jesus, the Redeemer of the World; and 
before that name and the unutterable love and power 
which it suggests, all knees must bow, "of beings 
celestial, terrestrial and sub-terrestrial." In heaven 
the angels and archangels add new ascriptions of 
praise. On earth some hundreds of millions of re- 
deemed sinners bow in humble gratitude before him. 
And in the region of departed spirits there are multi- 
tudes which no man can number^ gathered out of 
every nation and kindred and people and tribe, who 
sing, "Worthy art thou to receive honor and glory and 
power and dominion; for thou hast redeemed us by 
thy blood and hast made us to be kings and priests 
unto God." 

There is a legend of an ancient hero who, as he 
fell dying in battle, with one hand grasped his bridle 
and with the other waved bis broken sword, crying, 
"Go tell the dead, I come ! " So too the Lord Jesus 



loo "the kenosis. 

ascended from Olivet while the opening clouds re- 
ceived him. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and the 
King of Glory shall come in! Who is this king of 
glory? The Lord mighty in battle. The Lord of Hosts, 
he is the King of Glory. Lift your heads, O ye 
gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors and the 
King of Glory shall come in! 

And what is the conclusion.'' Let this mind be in 
you which was also in Christ Jesus. He stooped to 
conquer. Oh that we might also learn the Kenosis! 
We are tenacious of our rights; we clamor about our 
petty prerogatives; we forget that the highest right, 
the most glorious privilege, the most divine pre- 
rogative, is to give up everything for others and 
the glory of God. "He that saveth his life, shall lose 
it; and he that loseth his life for my sake and the 
gospel's, shall find it unto life everlasting." To turn 
our backs upon the form of glory^ is to win glory 
itself. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground 
and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth 
forth much fruit." There is no better word than 
that of the Apostle, "I am crucified with Christy 
nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in 
me." Self-denial, self-abnegation, self-forgetfulness, 
— these lie along the path that leads to that highest 
manhood which can say, "My life is hid with Christ 
in God." 

He who has learned this truth and is willing to 
entertain the mind that was 'in Christ Jesus, shall win 
for himself, as Jesus won, a new name and shall be 
partaker of his glory. As it is written, "To him that 
overcometh, will I give a white stone, with a new name 
written therein, which no man knoweth save he that 
receiveth it." 



IN NO WISE. 

*'And him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." — John vi. 37. 

Our Lord loved the people. He had come all the 
way from heaven to save them. He had compassion 
on them because they were as sheep without a shep- 
herd. He desired above all things to win them to the 
glory of the endless life. 

All day long he had been preaching and working 
wonders in the plain east of Gennesaret. The blind 
and withered and halt were healed of their infirmities. 
The place must have looked like a field hospital with 
crutches and bandages scattered about. Meanwhile 
he preached the great truths of the kingdom; for he 
recognized the fact so frequently overlooked by mod- 
ern philanthropists, that the greatest need of the aver- 
age man is a spiritual need after all. As the day wore 
on, the people being anhungered, he wrought for them 
the miracle of the loaves. But while he satisfied 
their physical desires, he still preached; for he knew 
that a man may endure hunger as well as other aches 
and pains, but as an immortal being he must know 
the way of spiritual and eternal life. The day was 
over, and in the twilight Jesus betook himself to a 
mountain apart for communion with God. The little 
boat, manned by his disciples, meanwhile pushed out 

(lOi) 



I02 IN NO WISE. 

upon the lake, and in the darkness the storm came 
upon them. On a sudden he appeared walking upon 
the waves, and they received him into the ship, and 
lo, the keel of the little vessel grated upon the sands 
of Capernaum ! 

The next morning the people, having come around 
the end of Gennesaret, were there to meet him. The 
motives of many were not of the best. Some clamored 
for a sign, others sought him merely for the loaves 
and fishes. But no matter how sordid or supersti- 
tious they were, he longed for their souls. From the 
little boat at the landing he preached to them, turn- 
ing their thought to spiritual things. He spoke of 
himself as the bread which came down from heaven, 
and besought them to come to him that they might 
never hunger. "Come!" " Come! " was the refrain 
of his discourse. His hands were stretched out in in- 
vitation : "Come, come, and him that cometh unto 
me [ will in no wise cast out ! " 

"In no wise"? Did he mean it? Can we take 
him at his word ? Is this not hyperbole ? Does he 
not mean that he is simply very, very willing? No. 
There is no word of qualification. " Him that cometh 
unto me I will in no wise cast out." 

" What, Lord, not if a red handed mtirderer come to 
thee ? " No ; guilt is no bar to the mercy of the gra- 
cious Son of God. 

Is there a promise that will cover the case ? " Come 
now, let us reason together, saith the Lord; though 
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; 
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." 

Is there an example ? Aye. There was David. 
Was there ever a deeper-dyed sinner than he ? It 
was murder; it was adultery; it was secret sin; it 



IN NO WISE. 103 

was presumptuous sin ; it was wilful, deliberate, 
daring, persistent sin. Hear him: ** Have mercy upon 
me, O God, according to thy loving kindness; accord- 
ing unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out 
my transgressions. Against thee, thee only, have I 
sinned, and done this evil in thy sight." Did God 
answer him? Listen again: *' This poor man cried 
and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his 
troubles." *' He hath put a new song in my mouth, 
even praise unto our God." *' O that men would 
praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonder- 
ful works to the children of men! " 

" But, Lord, if a man come to thQ^from the meanest 
and most sordid of motives 2 If he is not conscious of 
love and gratitude toward thee; if he has not even 
felt the heinousness of sin; if he is moved simply and 
solely by the desire to escape from hell ? " Yes, even 
then the promise holds ; " I will in no wise cast him 
out." 

Is there a promise! ** As I live, saith the Lord, I 
have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but 
that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, 
turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die ? " 
So then fear is a legitimate motive. Our Lord him- 
self speaks of the outer darkness, of the undying 
worm, of the fire that never shall be quenched, in 
order that we may be moved to escape from spiritual 
and eternal death. 

Is there a case in point "i The prodigal son is one; 
he was brought to his good resolution by two consid- 
erations: the thought of his own poverty and of his 
father's wealth. As he sat in the swine-field, his sub- 
stance all squandered, in rags and shame and penni- 
lessness, he looked at his thin hands, felt the gnawing 



104 IN NO WISE. 

of hunger and saw visions of plenty in his father's 
house. " I will arise," said he, " and go to my father." 
Was there a welcome for him ? '' And when he was 
yet a great way off his father saw him and went out 
to meet him." Listen. There is music and dancing. 
Look in at the window. Who is it that sits in the 
place of honor with a ring on his finger and wearing 
the best robe ? The father rises in his place, and 
says: ''Rejoice with me, my friends, for this my son was 
dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found." 

"Yes, Lord; but if a man has grown old in impeiii- 
tence a7id habitual sin ! '' Ah! now the heart runs 
backward along the years. I am standing again at 
my mother's knee and hearing the old, old story. I 
am listening again to the preaching in the village 
church. I am recalling a season of spiritual quicken- 
ing, when many of my companions came, but I re- 
plied, " Not now, but at a more convenient season." 
That was twenty, forty, sixty years ago. My heart is 
hard; my conscience is seared; my ears are dull. 
Will he receive me ? 

Is there a promise? There are many promises. 
" He is able to save unto the uttermost all them that 
come unto God by him." Unto the uttermost! That 
means to the last year, to the last day, to the last 
gasp. 

Is there an example of any who came so late ? One, 
that none may despair; and only one, that none may 
presume — to wit, the penitent thief. The story runs 
that he had been a highwayman on the bloody road 
that led down to Jericho. All warnings and remon- 
strances were unheeded. He pursued his desperate 
course until he was haled to judgment, to prison, and 
to the gallows tree. There he hung in articulo mortis. 



IN NO WISE. ltJ5 

His brief candle was burned out. Hark! ** Lord, re- 
member me when thou comest in thy kingdom," 
And what was the answer ? " To-day thou shalt be 
with me in paradise." 

Depth of mercy ! Can there be 
Mercy still reserved for me ? 
Can my God his love forbear ? 
Me, the chief of sinners, spare? 

There for me the Saviour stands; 
Shows his wounds and spreads his hands, 
God is love ! I know, I feel, 
Jesus lives, and loves me still. 

" But suppose a man is burdened with doubt 1 What 
then ? I, perhaps, am not certain that Jesus is the 
Christ; am not sure of immortality; wonder some- 
times if there be a God. Is there hope for me ?" 

Is there a promise? " He that doeth the will of my 
Father shall know the doctrine." If I come with the 
feeblest faith, the Lord will strengthen it. What, in- 
deed, is belief, but doubt looking to Christ and learn- 
ing of Christ ? The antidote for doubt is not knowl- 
edge, but faith. So bring your doubts, my brother, 
and lay them before his feet. 

Was ever a skeptic thus received! Many. There 
was doubting Thomas. He was not at the prayer- 
meeting in the upper room when the risen Christ 
appeared to the disciples. And when he was told, he 
said: *' I will not believe. Nay, not unless I may 
thrust my fingers into the nail prints and my hand 
into his side." A little later he was with the disciples, 
when the Lord appeared, saying, " Peace be unto 
you.*' Then straightway he turned to Thomas, and 
said, " Reach hither thy finger and thrust it into 



Io6 IN NO WISE. 

these wounds and thrust thy hand into my side; and 
be not faithless but believing." And Thomas bowed 
before him, crying, *' My Lord and my God! " 

" Yes, Lord; but a backslider 7 Is it not written, * It 
is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and 
made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted of 
the good word of God, if they fall away, to renew 
them again unto repentance, seeing they have cruci- 
fied the Lord afresh and put him to an open shame ' ?" 
But this is an impossible hypothesis. Precisely as if 
the Lord had said. If a star shall swing out of its 
orbit, who can replace it .'' The star does not swing 
out of its orbit, because the Almighty holds it there. 
A man once converted is held by the great power of 
God. 

Is there a promise for the backslider ? " Return 
unto me and I will have mercy upon you." The word 
rings all through Scripture: ** Return!" "Return!" 
A man grows cold-hearted, neglects his obvious duty, 
forgets to pray; and still God's word " Return! " pur- 
sues him. 

If we would have an example^ there was Peter. 
Did ever a man fall further from grace ? " Lord, 
though all forsake thee, yet will not I forsake thee." 
A few hours later in the judgment-hall, a maid ser- 
vant pointed her finger at him, and said, "Thou also 
wast with Jesus." And he blushed and trembled, 
and cried once, twice, thrice with a ringing oath, "I 
never knew that man! " If there is hope for Peter, 
there is hope for all. Here on the shore of the lake 
he stands before his risen Lord. *' Simon son of 
Jonas lovest thou me ? " Once, twice, thrice; and 
thrice, as in the denial, Peter answers, "Yea, Lord, 
thou knowest that I love thee." " Feed my sheep." 



IN NO WISE. 107 

The past is forgotten and his commission is restored. 
Let this be remembered, *' If any man sin, we have an 
advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the 
righteous." And he knoweth our frame, he remember- 
eth that we are dust; if we return, he will have mercy 
upon us. 

" But, Lord, if one has committed the unpardonable 
sin?'* No, not even then will Christ reject him; that 
is, if we regard the unpardonable sin as usually un- 
derstood. What is it? "The sin against the Holy 
Ghost.*' And what does the Holy Ghost do? He 
takes of the things of Jesus and shows them unto us. 
And how do we sin against the Holy Ghost ? By 
refusing to accept Christ. That, in the nature of the 
case, is the unpardonable sin, and there is none other. 
It closes the door of pardon against us; for there is 
none other name under heaven given among men 
whereby we must be saved. 

Is there a promise here ? " The blood of Jesus 
Christ cleanseth us from all sin." Therefore if a man 
accept Christ as his Saviour no sin whatsoever shall 
be remembered against him. 

Is there a case in point? If ever a man committed 
heinous sin it was Saul of Tarsus; a young zealot full 
of bigotry and superstition, whose conscience was 
possessed by the very spirit of cruelty and bitterness. 
He breathed out slaughter against God's little ones. 
There were lights to warn, there were voices to ad- 
monish him, but through them all he pushed his way 
on his crusade of persecution. God called a halt; 
through the great noonday light he spoke to him. 
Saul answered, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to 
do ? " Then and there the new life began, and 
he was faithful until the day when he was taken out 



Io8 IN NO WISE. 

beyond the walls of Rome and his head fell from the 
block. *^ I have fought a good fight, I have finished 
my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is 
laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the 
Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day." 

" But surely, Lord, this promise cannot hold in the 
case of one v/ho is dea^i and gone to hell ! " Yes, even 
then the promise holds. If the lost could come to 
Jesus, they would find him waiting to receive them. 

\^ Xh^r^ a promise '? The twelve gates of heaven 
are great promises; on the east, on the west, on the 
north, on the south the gates stand open. They 
shall never be shut by day and there is no night 
there. And there are no sentinels or warders to pre- 
vent refugees from entering in. 

Is there an example 2 Do we know of a single soul 
that ever came from the outer darkness and passed 
through those open gates ? No, not one ! Alas ! not 
one; for there is *'a great gulf fixed." A great im- 
passable gulf. But God has not made it ; the 
lost themselves have rendered their return impossible 
by sinning away the opportunities of their probation- 
ary life. Death fixes character; as it is written, "He 
that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is 
righteous, let him be righteous still." The lost are 
forever wedded to sin and darkness. There is only 
one place in the universe where they would be more 
miserable than in their present abode; that is in heaven. 
They would rather endure their shame and remorse 
than return to God. The gulf is fixed, but over it 
the promise still and forever rings forth: ''Him that 
Cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out! " 

What then is the conclusion ? " Now is the 
accepted time, now is the day of salvation." It 



IN NO WISE. 109 

is not for me to say that this is the last opportunity 
of any, but I do know that it may be. The man 
who sins away a moment of grace like this takes an 
awful hazard. To-day is ours; to-morrow is God's. 

It may be that in the soul of some one who reads 
these words the struggle is now going on. The 
Heart says, "I want to be reconciled unto God;" the 
Reason says, *'This is the best and wisest thing to do;" 
Conscience says, "It is right; do it." But what says 
the Will? There lies the decision. O that it might 
say, " I will arise and go to him." 

In the year 1821 a young lady whose name, Char- 
lotte Elliot, has become familiar with us through one 
of her favorite hymns, was under deep conviction of 
sin. For a twelvemonth she could not sleep, but re- 
sisted all the overtures of Christ. Then a clergyman 
was entertained in her father's house, who on leaving 
said, ''Dear Charlotte, cut the cable; it will take too 
long to unloose it." That very night she made the 
great resolution and wrote this hymn: 

Just as I am, without one plea, 
But that thy blood was shed for me, 
And that thou bidd'st me come to thee, 
O Lamb of God, I come! I come! 

Just as I am, and waiting not 

To rid my soul of one dark blot. 

To thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot, 

O Lamb of God, I come! I come! 

Just as I am: — thou wilt receive. 
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve; 
Because thy promise I believe, 
O Lamb of God, I come! I come! 

Just as I am, thy love unknown 
Has broken every barrier down; 
Now to be thine, yea, thine alone, 
O Lamb of God, I come! I come! 



LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. 

" And God said, Let there be light : and there was light."— Ghn. i. 3. 

It used to be a favorite objection to the Mosaic 
account of the creation, that it made light before the 
sun. In fact, however, that was precisely the case. 
The darkness of primitive chaos was broken by glim- 
merings of electric light produced by atomic friction 
before there was a luminary in heaven. We note a 
corresponding fact in history. Luther is called "The 
Sun of the Reformation " ; but there were foregleams 
of that great movement long before his time. The 
Wyclif Bible was completed Anno Domini 1383. 
John Huss, who advocated the ultimate authority of 
Scripture as against ecclesiastical authority, was 
burned Anno Domini 1416. The voice of Savonarola, 
who preached vital piety under Lorenzo the Magnifi- 
cent, was hushed amid the flames. Anno Domini 1498. 
But the birth of Luther was as the glory of the full 
midday beam. 

His life reads like a melodrama. 

Firsts we see him as a fagot boy carrying fuel for the 
smelting furnaces in Mansfeld — a fit apprenticeship 
for one who was destined to kindle th.e fires that 
should melt the heart of the nations and recast the 
lives and characters of men. 

(no) 



LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. Ill 

It was a time of darkness. A cartoon of the period 
sets forth the condition of things on this wise : — A 
king is saying, " I govern all " ; a soldier saying, "I 
fight for all "; a priest, sleek and portly, saying, "I 
pray for all " ; to which he might have added, " I prey 
upon all " ; and a peasant, lean and threadbare, la- 
menting, " I pay for all." The shoeless people were 
ground down in manifold oppression and ignorance. 
There was no open vision. The lights of the golden 
candlestick were quenched in the sanctuary. Bare- 
foot friars went about crying, Misericordia ! A fire 
was sorely needed to illuminate the world and to 
arouse the dormant energies of the church. 

The fagot boy was moved by dreams of great- 
ness. He entered the university with the intention 
of preparing himself for the practice of law. There 
an incident occurred which changed the whole tenor 
of his life. He was walking in the fields with his 
bosom friend Alexis, when a storm arose and a bolt 
of lightning smote them. When Martin awoke from 
unconsciousness, his friend Alexis lay dead beside 
him. He fled from the place smitten with an un- 
speakable terror. He could neither eat nor sleep. He 
had formed a new conception of divine wrath; a cer- 
tain fearful looking for of judgment took possession 
of him; he fled to a monastic cell. 

Next a monk is bending over a book, — the book that has 
buttressed nations in truth and righteousness; the 
book that has guided multitudinous souls to endless 
life; a book more significant than the Sibylline 
leaves as to the destinies of men; it bore the name, 
Ta Biblia. The monk knew it only as a forbidden 
book, listed in the Index Expurgatorius. He read it 
furtively until he came to the place where it is written, 



ri2 LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. 

''Search the Scriptures for in them ye think yc have 
eternal life; and they are they which testify of me." 
With this search-warrant he read more boldly — read 
until he came upon a portrayal of sin. By this he 
was enabled to interpret his own heartache. He read 
of the fire that is never quenched, of the worm that 
never dies. He grew lean and haggard. The friars 
saluted him, ''Good appetite. Brother Martin !" But 
the refectory had no charms for him. He returned 
again to his book. He read, "By the deeds of the 
law shall no flesh living be justified." The very 
terror of his situation enchained him. And now he 
came upon the word that is written: "What the law 
could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, 
God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful 
flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." The 
light began to break. " He that believeth, shall be 
saved." It was the dawn of day. The song of the 
new life was within him. It was as when the bride- 
groom calls to his bride, "Arise, my love; the winter 
is past, the rain is over and gone, the time of the 
singing of birds is come; arise, my love, my fair one 
and come away! " 

Again we observe the monk on his way to Rome. 
The Pope has summoned him. Not long before, the 
Elector Frederick had a dream in which he saw a 
monk with a pen in hand, the feather end of it lost in 
heaven, the point touching the Pope's tiara and then 
piercing the ears of a lion that shook its mane and 
roared. This summons from Rome is the lion's 
voice. The monk sets out afoot and journeys as a 
barefoot friar begging his way. He longs to enter 
the Imperial City. On a southern slope of the Alps, 
he pauses, leaning on his staff ; Italy with its blue 



LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. II3 

skies, green vineyards and silver rivers, lies below him, 
and far in the distance the domes of the great capital. 
At the Porto del Popolo he falls upon his knees cry- 
ing, " Hail, Holy Rome ; bathed in the blood of 
martyrs and sanctified by the memories of the holy 
past." 

Great were his anticipations ; a sore disappoint- 
ment awaited him. He had hoped to see a multitude 
serving God in vows of poverty and consecration. 
He found palatial halls, where priests with round per- 
sons and rubicund faces gathered around the stores 
of famous wine cellars. He looked for hair-cloth, 
and, lo, there were purple and fine linen, wealth, 
splendor, luxury on every side. Here were churches, 
marvels of architecture, adorned by the art of Raphael 
and Titian. He looked for voluntary poverty and 
simple piety ; the air was full of ambition and politi- 
cal intrigue. The holy brothers smiled at him as a 
simple rustic. As he was saying mass, a neighbor 
elbowed him : "We could say it seven times, brother, 
while thou art saying it once." It seemed to him, 
honest devotee, that they were worshipping God with 
their lips while their hearts were far from him. 

There was at Rome- — where you may see it to this 
day — a marble stairway said to have been trodden by 
the feet of Jesus as he left the Praetorium on his way 
to the cross. The monk Martin thought to do penance 
for his sins like others, by climbing this stairway on 
his knees. Half way up the Scala Sancta, a voice 
spoke : "The just shall live by faith." It whispered 
spoke louder, rolled like a peal of thunder through 
his heart and conscience: "The just shall live by 
faith ! " He found himself standing upon his feet. 



114 LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. 

The revelation had come. Never more could the 
monk Martin be the same man. 

And now it is market-day at /titer bok. Here are 
dog-carts and donkey-carts ; here are singers and 
acrobats; all manner of commodities are on sale, — > 
meats and vegetables, live stock, clothing and furni- 
ture; and two commodities besides which are not so 
common on market-days; to-wit, indulgences for sin 
and deliverances from purgatory. The centre of at- 
traction is a booth yonder under a great crucifix from 
which are suspended the papal arms. A graduated 
scale of prices is affixed to this booth. Sins are 
labeled at their market quotations: polygamy, six 
ducats; perjury, nine; sacrilege, nine; murder, eight; 
witchcraft, two; and so on. The theory is that the sac- 
rifice of Christ was of infinite merit; he not only 
atoned for the race, but left a vast treasury of surplus, 
to which the saints had added by their works of 
supererogation. It is now proposed to sell out this 
accumulated surplus for the furnishing of St. Peter's 
at Rome. The monk Tetzel, who conducts the sale, 
is an emissary of the Pope. The drum beats and the 
sale goes on. 

In addition to indulgences he disposes of purga- 
torial deliverances at graduated prices. On a chest 
suspended from the crucifix is this inscription : 

" Soon as the coin within the chest doth ring. 
The soul shall straightway into heaven spring." 

" Hear ye," cries Tetzel, " O bereaved wives and hus- 
bands, and parents of children in purgatorial pains. 
Why should ye permit them to suffer when they can 
be delivered by a few paltry pence ? " The multitudes 
are interested and money flows in. But Brother 



LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. I15 

Martin standing in the company sees another picture 
— One standing as a vender of wares at the crossing 
of the streets, and crying, *' Ho, every one that thirst- 
eth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no moneyi 
come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk 
without money, and without price." His soul is 
stirred within him. Is there no one to expose this 
brazen-faced charlatan ? " God willing, I will make a 
hole in Tetzel's drum!" 

And next we come to that memorable day^ Oct. jist 
1317- It is All Hallows' Eve ; to-morrow will be All 
Saints' Day. The monk Martin with rapid strides 
approaches the Castle Church in Wittenberg ; he 
draws from beneath his cloak a parchment and 
unrolls it. The quiet of the evening is broken by 
the sound of his hammer as he nails that parchment 
against the chapel door. The sound of his hammer 
is destined to shake the pillars of papal Rome and 
awake a sleeping world. That parchment is the 
protest from which Protestantism shall spring. It 
contains Ninety-five Theses, such as these : " The 
Pope has no power to remit sin " ; " The man who 
preaches indulgences preaches a lie " ; " The man 
who sells indulgences shall be cast into hell." The 
next morning the townspeople, in their wooden 
sabots, were reading these Theses and gossiping 
about them in their doorways. The event makes no 
unusual stir as yet. When Magna Charta was signed 
in the valley at Runnymede, flags waved and trumpets 
blared and loud shoutings sounded forth the victory 
of the people's rights. Here is a greater manifesto 
than Magna Charta, and destined to a more magni- 
ficent place in history ; but the river Elbe flows 
quietly by as if naught had happened to disturb the 



Il6 LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. 

current of events. The monk's protest meets no 
response as yet, save from a still small Voice. But 
the lire and the tempest and the earthquake will 
come. 

And again li'c see hifn at the Diet of JForms. A 
Papal Bull has been issued against him. He is here 
to defend his protest. All along the vray he had been 
admonished of dangers awaiting him. *' Though 
they kindle nres." said he, "from Wittenberg to 
Worms, yet will I pass through by God's grace to 
face Behemoth and break his teeth." His friends ad- 
monished him that he must needs confront the great 
adversary. '"Though there vrere as many devils at 
Worms as there are tiles upon the housetops, yet will 
I pass through in the name of the Lord Christ." He 
has turned not to the right or left, and here he 
comes. As he enters the doorway, an old captain, 
bearing the scars of bloody strife, says to him, "My 
poor monk, a great battle awaits thee ; be just and 
fear not." 

He is under the protection of the Elector's guard. 
The emissaries of the Pope have burned his books, 
and they would fain burn him. But first they will 
make an earnest effort to reclaim him. "Revoco ' is 
the word. Revoco! If he will but say "' Revoco," all 
shall be forgotten. He is v:arned. admonished, 
tempted with the offer of fat benefices. All in vain. 
He rises to speak: '"Here I stand: I cannot other- 
wise; God help me!" Never did human lips utter 
grander words. The clouds are lifting from before 
the sun: bells ring in heaven; earth echoes with the 
sound of breaking chains. 

Look well at this man. Here is the noblest sight 



LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. II7 

in the universe. A man under the dominion of con- 
science. A man true to his convictions. A man 
standing for the right in peril of death. A man real- 
izing that he is in covenant with God! 

And then the monk Luther is spirited away. No one 
knows whither he has gone. But on a sudden all 
Germany seems flooded with tracts and pamphlets. 
They are dated from "The Air Castle," from *'The 
Island of Patmos," from " The Region of Birds." 
The monk is hidden away in the Castle of the Wart- 
burg, where the ancient landgraves had dwelt. Here 
he enjoys the friendship of Melancthon. ''Come, 
Philip, let us sing the Forty-sixth Psalm: ' God is our 
refuge and our strength; therefore will we not fear, 
though the earth be removed, and though the moun- 
tains be carried into the midst of the sea.' " Here he 
translates the Bible into the vernacular — his great 
life-work. It is like the forging of a thunderbolt. 
These Bibles are burned in the streets. There are 
bonfires in Rome, in Wittenberg, in Worms, in which, 
with the crackling of parchment, one can hear the 
prophetic hissing of flesh. But the Bible cannot be 
burned. The Book of the People has come to stay, 
and the protest has come to stay. 

And now the monk lies on his death-bed. Alas, that 
his enemies should have been unwilling to leave him 
unmolested even here. They say that his death was 
the result of a drunken debauch! And it was but 
yesterday that he preached his last sermon, taking for 
his text, ''Come unto me, all ye that labor and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest." A friend 
bending over him asks, " Dost thou die in the doc- 
trines of the Reformation?" "Aye." "Dost thou 
die in the faith of Christ crucified?" "Aye." His 



Il8 LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. 

lips are moving: " Into thy hands, O Christ, I com- 
mit my spirit; for thou has^" redeemed me." And so 
the great reformer fell asleep. His body was com- 
mitted to the dust, his spirit to God who had given 
it, and his work, as Bacon said of his own, to the 
coming ages. 

The smoke of that long battle of the distant past 
has cleared away. We are far enough from the time 
of conflict to pass judgment on the cause and its 
results. Luthei is naught; the Reformation is every- 
thing. What did the Reformation mean ? The Prot- 
estantChurch stands on three fundamental facts : 

1. A free co7iscience. Ich binlch ! Let every man be 
his own thinker. In the four decades preceding the 
Reformation, no less than thirteen hundred persons 
were burned to death for heresy; that is, for thinking 
for themselves; that being the meaning of heresy in 
those days. In point of fact, however, every man 
must think for himself, as he values his soul and hopes 
to please God. Alone was I born into the world; 
alone must I face the duties and responsibilities of 
life; alone must I pass through the valley of the 
shadow; alone must I stand before the judgment bar. 
Let no man, therefore, stand in my light. Let no 
priest or ecclesiastical body prevent my face-to-face 
communion with God. 

2. An open Bible. He broke the chains that bound 
the Scriptures to the altar. He flung open its golden 
clasps. Was it a great thing for the world when 
Columbus forced the Gates of Hercules and pushed 
his way out upon the open seas in conquest of Eldo- 
rado ? It was a far greater when Luther threw open 
the doors of the divine oracles, that whosoever would 
might enter in. 



LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. II9 

3. The doctrine of Justification by Faith, — ^^articulum 
ecclesice stantis aut cade^itis .'' This doctrine is the found- 
ation of the church; it is also the foundation of per- 
sonal life and character; as it is written, **Other 
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which 
is Jesus Christ." It is also the sum and substance of 
all preaching; for no man preaches who does not 
point an index finger toward the cross, saying, "Be- 
hold the Lamb of God ! " On this fact rests the re- 
nown of the great reformer. His only glory is a re- 
flected brightness from the face of him of whom it is 
written: *' There is none other name under heaven 
given among men whereby we must be saved." His 
word was, "Look to the wounds of Jesus! Look and 
live." 

If the Church of the Reformation still lives, it 
lives by virtue of the survival of the fittest. It was a 
great truth that was uttered by Gamaliel: "If this 
counsel or this work be of men, it will come to 
nought; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, 
lest haply ye be found even to be fighting against 
God." The three centuries of Protestantism have 
proven its right to survive. One of the most affect- 
ing sights in history is the procession of dying 
religions and philosophies following one another 
toward oblivion. Truth only can survive. 

Truth crushed to earth will rise again; 
The eternal years of God are hers; 
But error, wounded, writhes with pain, 
And dies amid her worshippers. 

In the market-place of Eisleben stands a statue of 
Martin Luther, before which Charles the Fifth, Fred- 
erick the Greatj Peter of Russia, Napoleon, the Kaiser 



I20 LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. 

Wilhelm, all have bowed their heads. Well might 
they; their names have shaken thrones and dynasties; 
but Luther, by the simple power of truth, has left an 
abiding influence on the souls of men. Protestant- 
ism lives, because the truths it represents all centre in 
Christ, of whom it is written: ''His kingdom is an 
everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is for ever and 
ever. The earth shall be consumed with fervent 
heat, the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; 
but the word of the Lord endureth forever." The 
mouth of the Lord hath spoken it! 



THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. 

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the 
king, behold, there came wise men from the east co Jerusalem, saying, 
Where is he that is born King of the Jews ? for we have seen his star in 
the east, and are come to worship him."— Matt. ii. i, 2. 

The stars are our old friends. They have stood 
guard in the heavens since the beginning of time ; and 
all the generations of the children of men have pon- 
dered them. Moses saw them from the fields of Midian; 
the planets revolving in their courses, and the fixed 
stars like eyes peering out from the background of 
infinite space. David watched them from the plains 
of Bethlehem with his flocks about him, and sang, 
"When I consider the heavens, the**work of thy fin- 
gers, what is man that thou art mindful of him ? " It 
was the business of these Magians to know the starry 
heavens, and from them to cast the horoscopes of 
men and nations. On this occasion they were amazed 
to behold a new star, bright and beckoning, which 
seemed to say, " Follow me." A new star ? Why 
not? If God had been leading up through the cen- 
turies by a series of miracles to the Incarnation as a 
stupendous climacteric, why should he not kindle a 
torch in heaven to light the pathway of those who 
sought him ? 

Was it a comet — as Milton says, " A comet dang- 
(121) 



122 THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. 

ling in the air " ? The Chinese astronomical tables 
make it appear that there was a comet in the year 
750 of the building of Rome; that is, at the time of 
the advent of Christ. " Thus," says a German ration- 
alist, "the star of Bethlehem is displaced from the 
category of the supernatural and reduced to the level 
of an ordinary astronomical phenomenon." But this 
hypothesis was long since abandoned, because a 
comet does not meet the conditions of the case. 

Was it then a conjunction of planets ? On Octo- 
ber 10, 1604, Kepler saw Jupiter and Saturn coming 
close together, and then red Mars intruding on their 
symposium; it was shown that there had been a simi- 
lar conjunction seven years before the beginning of 
the Christian Era. This phenomenon was, moreover 
in the constellation Pisces, set apart by astrologers as 
having a peculiar significance for Judea. But un- 
fortunately the discrepancy in time was fatal, and 
besides the constellation must have appeared at such 
an elevation as to make it impossible that it should 
lead the wise men. 

Was it then a meteor ? Possibly. But in any case 
it was miraculous. The Czar, at his recent corona- 
tion, drank from a crystal cup to the prosperity of 
Russia, and then dashed the cup to fragments on the 
marble floor. It vras not meet that any but his royal 
lips should ever touch it. So perhaps God kindled a 
light for the occasion of the Incarnation, which, hav- 
ing served its purpose, was extinguished forever. 

I. It li'as a royal harbinger. It betokened the com- 
ing of a long-expected king. He was knov,m as the 
desire of all nations. The Greeks were looking for 
ho Dikaios — the Just Man. The Romans were expecting 
one who should surpass all the Caesars in the glory of 



THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. I23 

his dominion and usher in the Golden Age. Virgil 
sang of him in his Ninth Eclogue. The Jews, also, 
were expecting one who should restor ethe glory to 
Israel. It had been written: *' For unto us a son is 
born, unto us a child is given, and the government 
shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be 
called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, the 
Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace." 

There was a special reason why these Chaldean 
soothsayers should be expecting him, for it was one 
of their own craft, the Magian Balaam, who had pre- 
dicted that a star should be the harbinger of the 
king. He had stood on the heights of Edom fifteen 
centuries before, employed by the king of the Moab- 
ites to curse the children of Israel. He saw their 
tents spread out among the acacia groves in the val- 
ley below. Seven altars were about him, and seven 
bullocks blazing upon them. In vain did he endeavor 
to curse. A trance fell upon him, and the Spirit 
moved his lips. His eyes were opened; the curtain 
of the years was lifted. He saw the nations discom- 
fited and Israel triumphant. " How goodly are thy 
tents, O Jacob; and thy tabernacles, O Israel ! They 
are as gardens by the river's side, and as orchards of 
lign-aloes. I shall see him, but not now; I shall be- 
hold him, but not nigh : there shall come a Star out 
of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and he 
shall smite the corners of Moab. Out of this people 
shall come One whose dominion shall be for ever and 
ever." 

No doubt these Magians were familiar with that 
ancient prophecy. Wherefore, it is written, " They 
were obedient unto the star." It went before them 
like a diamond shining on the index finger of the 



124 THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. 

night, pointing the way. They followed it over the 
mountains of Chaldea, through the valley of the 
Euphrates, around by Lebanon, southward through 
the valley of the Jordan, up the steep ascent to Jeru- 
salem, and down again to Bethlehem. There it 
paused over the stable. There must be some mistake! 
No; at the threshold they looked upward, and the star 
was pausing there and slowly fading from view. 
Then they heard the infant's wail. They entered, 
and saw the Christ-child. A moment later they had 
unpacked their treasures, and laid at his feet myrrh 
and gold and frankincense — fit offerings for a king. 

II. // was a Day Star, — an augury of the morning. 
The night upon which it rose was the darkest night 
the world ever saw. All prophecy had ceased; there 
was no open vision; the lights in the tabernacle had 
gone out. It was time for God to interpose in behalf 
of his people, to bring in the Golden Age. 

If we would know the deep darkness that then 
prevailed, and the influence of this Day Star in his- 
tory, let us institute a comparison between the great 
festival of that period, and the corresponding festival 
of our time. Let us attend the Saturnalia which were 
celebrated at Rome during the winter solstice. 

The streets of the great metropolis are thronged 
with people. The temple of Saturn is thrown wide 
open. The woolen fetters have been taken from the 
feet of the tutelary god. Here are knights and sena- 
tors in gay apparel riding through the streets; of these 
there are two thousand, who represent the proprietor- 
ship of the empire. Here are multitudes of slaves 
branded with their masters' names; of these there are 
sixty millions in the empire, dwelling in ergastula, or 
stables, herding like beasts. Here are plebeians also, 



THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. 125 

ashamed to beg, yet unwilling to work because labor 
is for slaves; living on congiaria^ that is, regular 
appropriations of food from the government; ever 
crying for bread and games. 

All are wending their way towards the Circus 
Maximus in which this " Pompa Diaboli " is to be 
celebrated. The great amphitheatre is magnificently 
decorated for the occasion. Festoons of roses are 
hung from pillar to pillar. Awnings are suspended 
overhead, from which perfumes are showered upon 
the people. Nuts and dates and roasted fowls are 
thrown among them. Yonder in the royal booth sits 
Caesar Augustus with his favorite courtiers and his 
wives and concubines about him. The higher tiers 
are set apart for the patricians: knights, senators and 
proprietors. Their wives are with them, wearing 
rings which, as Seneca says, " mark the number of 
their divorces." Lower down sit the plebeians; still 
lower the slaves. 

The trumpet gives the signal and theTriumphator 
enters, followed by a Roman guard; after them a 
procession of gods on rolling pedestals, which are 
placed on tripods about the arena. The spectators 
applaud with cheering and clapping of hands. The 
trumpet sounds and the athletic sports begin: first 
the foot-races and the boxing contests; at the conclu- 
sion of which the victors pass under the royal booth 
to receive their garlands. 

The trumpet sounds again — this time for the 
chariot races. The assembled populace, divided into 
parties marked by the colors of the chariots, are 
moved to wild excitement. Ribbons, garlands, favors 
of every sort are thrown down upon the contestants. 
Here and there soothsayers are selling tips for wagers. 



126 THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. 

and along the higher tiers estates are changing hands. 
The multitudes are shouting, laughing, applauding, 
laying wagers and swearing by their gods. The suc- 
cessful competitors approach the royal booth, receive 
their garlands and pass out. 

The trumpet sounds again, and wild beasts are 
pitted against each other; lions, tigers and leopards 
tear each other to pieces. The people are tasting 
blood and whetting their appetites for still more bru- 
tal contests to come. 

The trumpet sounds once more, and a company of 
gladiators march in — each man armed with net and 
dagger and shield. They lift their faces to the em- 
peror and cry, " Morituri, te Salutamus ! " They meet 
each other, hand to hand, in the arena; it is a strug- 
gle to the death. The vanquished plead for mercy. 
'''' Habet! Habet ! " is the cry. The thumbs of the peo- 
ple are reversed; they roar for blood. The bodies are 
dragged out with hooks by Nubian slaves; dragged 
into the death chamber, still palpitating with life. The 
arena is strewn with fresh sand. On with the Satur- 
nalia! The audience is frenzied with a thirst for blood. 
Meanwhile, as Ovid says, "The love-making in the 
upper booths goes on." " Pompa Diaboli ! " Blood ! 
blood ! blood ! And this was the great festival of 
the Augustan Age. 

Look on that picture and then on this: 

The home is decked with evergreen and filled with 
life and laughter. Last night "the stockings w^ere 
hung in the chimney with care," and the children are 
rejoicing in their gifts. The members of the house- 
hold gather about the board; the absent are remem- 
bered, and the past is revived in joyous reminiscence. 
The grandparents are there, their eyes shining and 



THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 127 

their youth renewed. Then at the family altar the 
goodness of the Heavenly Father is remembered in 
thanksgiving. All join in the glad songs of the Christ- 
mas tide; 

God rest ye, merrie gentlemen, 
Let nothing you dismay; 
For Jesus Christ our Saviour 
Was born on Christmas Day. 

What makes the difference between the Saturnalia 
and our Christmas festivities? The shilling of the Day 
Star. The world has been moving grandly on during 
these Christian centuries. Give God the praise ! 

The Star has shone into our home-life. The word 
familia used to mean merely a retinue of slaves; the 
family now suggests a circle of tender ties; mother 
and father, son and daughter, brother and sister. If 
these are sacred names, it is because Christ has sanc- 
tified them. 

It has thrown its light into the work-shop. The Third 
Estate is the product of Christian civilization. The 
term **sweat-shop" suggests one of the modern evils 
of our municipal life. But there was a time when the 
whole industrial system of the civilized world was 
one great sweat-shop. There were no strikes, there 
were no labor guilds, there was no contest of labor 
with capital, because the handicraftsman was a hope- 
less serf. The Carpenter who toiled in the shop at 
Nazareth, has dignified labor the whole world over. 
If it be true that "the heart of the toiler has throb- 
bings that move not the bosom of kings," it is due to 
Jesus, who was a fellow-craftsman with all the honest 
toilers of the earth. 

It has thrown its radiant influence into the larger forms 



128 THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. 

of our conunercial life. What could a man do with his 
savings nineteen hundred years ago, but wrap them 
in a napkin and bury them in the earth? There was 
no confidence between man and man. There were no 
savings banks, because, as King Henry said, "oaths 
were straws, men's faith as wafer cakes." The bank- 
ing system of to-day is a tribute to the power of the 
gospel; the logical sequence of the angels' song, 
"Good will to men." The man who has saved a 
golden eagle may, with reasonable confidence, now 
commit it to the care of a trust company; or, if he 
prefer, can send it around the world to Hong Kong 
by a chain of connections every link of which speaks 
of mutual confidence and bears the name of the Lord 
Christ. 

Its light has gleamed upon all the institutions of our 
political life. The man who most aptly represented 
the governmental system of the olden time was the 
publican sitting at the raceipt of customs. He stood 
for extortion, for blackmail, for blood-money. Here 
and there the plague spot still lingers; but we recog- 
nize it as a belated barbarism, and are moved to 
eradicate it. The words, Liberty, Equality, Fratern- 
ity, which pass current as the shibboleths of popular 
government in our time, had little or no place in 
public affairs at the beginning of the Christian Era. 
The truth enunciated by St. Paul on Mars' Hill, "God 
hath created of one blood all nations of men," has 
come to be a controlling influence among all nations 
lying within the charmed circle of what we call 
Christendom. 

To what shall we attribute this onward movement 
of the years? To the fact that Jesus Christ ca7ne to 
dwell among ?ne?i. How far yon Star of Bethlehem 



THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. I29 

casts its beams ! Our Lord proclaimed his purpose 
in the synagogue when he opened the book and read 
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath 
anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he 
hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach 
deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to 
the blind and to set at liberty them that are 
bruised." 

III. // was the Star of E7npire. It foretokened a 
perpetual improvement of the affairs of nations and 
men. It prophesies for us that what our Lord has 
done for Christendom, he will do for the whole world. 
The Star that shook the corners of Moab, shall shake 
the remotest corners of the earth until, to use the 
Psalmist's figure, as the house-wife shakes the 
crumbs from a napkin, so shall it shake all evil 
out of it. 

Our Lord was born between the hemispheres. 
Tradition says that he was crucified with his face 
towards the west; westward the star of empire takes 
its way. He is the cosmopolitan Christ. His king- 
dom is from the river unto the ends of the earth. 

A coin was found at Clunia, in Spain, bearing the 
image of Diocletian and the date Anno Domini 300. 
On the obverse was the hand of Hercules strangling a 
hydra, and over it the inscription, Deleta Christianitas. 
Thus to the mind of that haughty emperor the power 
of paganism was destined to strangle the gospel of 
Christ. Nay, strangle the sun! Strangle the atmos- 
phere! Strangle the springs that gush out of the 
hills to feed the unfathomable sea! Christianity is an 
all-pervasive and universal power. The royal ensigns 
onward go. 



130 THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

For, lo, the days are hastening on. 

By prophet bards foretold, 
When with the ever circling years 

Comes round the Age of Gold; 
When Peace shall over all the earth 

Which now the angels sing. 

All Other stars shall fade. The sun shall be 
changed into darkness and the moon into blood, and 
the stars of heaven shall fall as when a fig-tree is 
shaken of its untimely figs. But the Star of Bethle- 
hem will shine on forever. The zeal of the Lord of 
Hosts shall accomplish it. 

IV. // is the Star of destmy. Napoleon was wont to 
speak of his star of destiny which set, alas, at Water- 
loo. But this is the star of destiny which leads 
all pilgrims, if they will, to the joys of the endless 
life. 

Somew^here, for every man, the light of God's 
mercy is shining. It may be in the memory of a face 
crowned with silver and hands now folded under the 
sod. The light of reason, of memory, of revelation, 
all point to Bethlehem. O foolish Magi, had they 
stayed in the fields doubting, w^ondering, hesitating 
and making excuses! It was a far journey from 
Chaldea to Bethlehem, requiring ten times as long as 
to cross the Atlantic in these days. But these were 
wise men, and they said, " Arise, let us follow the star 
until we find him." 

In the folk-lore of Russia it is said that as these 
Magi were journeying, they passed through a village 
w^here a woman was scouring her door-step. "Come 
with us," they said to her, "for w^e have seen the 
King's star, and we go to find him." " Not now," she 
answered; " my house must first be set in order; then 



THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. I3I 

will I follow after you." But when her work was 
finished, it was too late. And now the children of 
Russia look for the Baboushka — an old woman with 
a troubled face, who is said to go in and out among 
them at Christmas-tide, scanning the faces of the 
children in hopeless quest for the Christ-child. 

If the call comes to-day, dear friend, heed it. God 
points so clearly to the desire of our hearts. Ring 
out, O bells of hope and promise! Ripple on, O laugh- 
ter of the children! Burn clear all lights in the win- 
dows of happy homes, and lead us to Christ! The 
wise men are on their way. Cold unbelief looks on 
and moves not. The wise men are on their way to 
Bethlehem. Arise, my friend, and journey with them, 
and God's blessing be with you along the way. 



ONE THING. 

" If any othef man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, 
I more : circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of 
Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews ; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 
concerning zeal, persecuting the church ; touching the righteousness 
which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those 
I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but 
loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord : for 
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, 
that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having my own 
righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of 
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know him 
and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being 
made conformable unto his death ; if by any means I might attain unto 
the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, 
either were already perfect : but I follow after, if that I may apprehend 
that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count 
not myself to have apprehended : but this one thing I do, forgetting 
those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those thmgs 
which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling 
of God in Christ Jesus,"— Phil. iii. 4-14. 

Here is the secret of a great life. The secret of a 
noble life is always a great thought. The great 
thought which made the Apostle Paul what he was, 
was this, to know Christ. To know about Christ is 
one thing ; to know him vitally, experimentally, that 
is another thing. The ambition of Paul was to know 
Christ in such a manner as to enter into the fellow- 
ship of his sufferings and be made conformable unto 
his death ; so that he might be able to say, ** I no 
longer live, but Christ liveth in me." 

At this point the ambition of Paul was in line 
with the purpose of God concerning him ; as he says, 
" I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for 
which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." The 

(132) 



ONE THING. 133 

word " apprehend " is significant. It means to lay 
liold on ; as when an officer apprehends a fugitive 
from justice, laying his hand upon him. Everybody 
knows how and when Jesus laid hold of Paul., That 
was a momentous day for him when the great light 
above the brightness of the sun smote him. Not 
many words were spoken. " Who art thou ? " "I 
am Jesus." '' What will thou have me to do ?" There- 
upon the mind of Jesus respecting Paul was made 
known to him. And from that moment the great 
thought of Jesus concerning Paul became the purpose 
and ambition of Paul respecting himself, namely, to 
know Christ, to know the power of his resurrection, 
to know the fellowship of his sufferings, to be made 
conformable unto his death, and so to apprehend that 
for which Christ Jesus had apprehended him. This 
meant life, character, usefulness, influence, manhood ; 
for the true measure of manhood is the stature of 
Christ the ideal Man. 

We are interested to "know tTie measure of Paul's 
success. For this also is the purpose of every true 
Christian, to know the Master and to be like him. 
Here we have his report of progress : ** I have not 
attained neither am I already perfect ; I count not 
myself to have apprehended." As he utters this 
humble and regretful confession of shortcoming, two 
pictures present themselves before us : one is Paul in 
prison ; aged, infirm, chained to his guard, and poor 
as poverty, sending for the cloak which he had left 
at Troas, to protect him from the cold. He had 
given up everything for Christ. Here is the in- 
ventory : as to his birthright, he was an Hebrew of 
the Hebrews ; as to his standing under the law, he 
was a Pharisee of the straightest sect ; as to his zeal, 



134 ONE THING. 

he was a zealot persecuting the church ; as to his 
ceremonial purity, he was blameless. No man in 
Jewry had a brighter future before him ; " but w^hat 
things were gain to me, those I counted loss for 
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my 
Lord ; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, 
and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ 
and be found in him." And what had he to show 
for this abandonment of all? "I count not myself 
to have apprehended." Failure? O no, the end is 
not yet. He still cherishes his high ambition. Thirty 
years have passed since Christ apprehended him on 
the way to Damascus, and he still follows after, 
that he may apprehend Christ. 

The other picture is one that glows in the eyes of 
the aged prisoner. He is back again in Tarsus, the 
home of his boyhood. He has followed the stream 
of spectators to the Poseidonium and from the great 
galleries looks down upon the Isthmian games. He 
sees again the runners at the crimson line. They 
have trained away every ounce of superfluous flesh ; 
they are stripped to the waist and bound tightly 
about the loins ; their best foot is forward ; their eyes 
are on the marble goal ; every muscle is tense. 
Thus they stand in line awaiting the signal. The 
trumpet sounds, once, twice, thrice, and they are off 
like the wind. Their bodies are bending forward ; 
their feet spurn the sanded course ; no glance is 
thrown backward or upon the great cloud of wit- 
nesses about them. One thing ! One thing they 
do ! The Apostle has his figure ; he grasps his stylus 
and writes, "So run I, forgetting the things which 
are behind and reaching forth unto those which are 



ONE THING. 135 

before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the 
high calling of God in Christ Jesus." 

It would appear that he is really doing two things ; 
forgetting and reaching forth. In fact, however, the 
forgetting is merely incidental to the reaching forth, 
which is the one thing. We, like Paul, have little or 
nothing to do with the things which are behind. The 
race which is before us must engage our thought. 
As to past sins, they are forgotten by the grace of 
God ; lost in oblivion as in a boundless sea. As to 
past sorrows, let the dead past bury its dead. As to 
past failures and shortcomings, we "rise on stepping- 
stones of our dead selves to higher things." 

In forgetting the past, however, we must not dis- 
honor it ; for the things which are behind have a 
most vital bearing on the things which are before. 
To-day is what yesterday has made it. We forget as 
nature forgets, in order to growth. We leave the past, 
as a river leaves the fountain hastening towards the 
sea ; as the oak forgets the acorn — though the acorn 
makes the oak — and the sunshine and the beating 
storms, in the stretching out of its strong arms to fur- 
nish a shadow for the passer-by. We forget, as 
Quentin Matsys forgot his apprenticeship in the 
blacksmith shop, when he began to paint Christs and 
Madonnas for cathedral walls, though the forge and 
the hammer were in every stroke of his brush ; or as 
Franklin forgot his kite, though the kite-string was 
father of the electric wire ; or as men forget their 
alphabets, though the alphabet enters into every line 
and utterance of after life. 

The old year is dying.* We utter a tender fare- 



* This sermon was preached at the beginning of the year 1897. 



136 ONE THING. 

well, because we believe that all the experiences of 
the twelve months have been working together for 
our good and for our further growth in grace. And 
then, girding ourselves, we turn our faces to the front 
and bravely forget. So writes the Apostle, "Leaving 
the principles of the gospel of Christ, let us go on 
unto perfection." He broke with the past, and so 
must we, because the future is before us. Let us 
reach forth unto the things which are before. 

And what are the things which are before ? The 
impenetrable curtain falls. God only knows the fut- 
ure ; its tasks and sorrows. Giant Grim and Giant 
Despair, trials and tribulations ; they are kindly hid 
from view. We pass into the new year as Abraham 
set forth by faith to journey into a country that he 
knew not. 

But as we are followers of Christ Jesus, there are 
some things in the future which lie in clear view, to- 
wit : ths course^ the mark, and the prize of our high 
calling. 

I. The Course. There is a race set before us — the 
straight path of the Christian life, — the path to man- 
hood and character and usefulness. Are we in the 
lists? What is our high purpose at the opening of 
the year ? Is it to get and hoard and spend upon 
ourselves? Is it as votaries of pleasure to chase but- 
terflies and thistle-down ? Is it to climb another 
round on the ladder of fame and position ? Not if 
we are Christ's. One thing we do. 

We are made for two worlds, like water-beetles 
that swim on the brooks in quiet places in summer. 
Dull creatures they seem, and yet among the cleverest, 
for they have two sets of eyes ; one pair below 



ONE THING. 137 

watches for prey ; another pair above guards against 
the foe or looks toward the blue sky and the sunlight. 
So amid the sordid cares of earthly life we look 
toward better things. We seek, if we are true fol- 
lowers of the Nazarene, first of all the kingdom of 
God. 

The soul of man is like the rolling world, 
One-half in day, the other dipt in night ; 
The one has music and the flying cloud, 
The other, silence and the wakeful stars. 

2. The Mark. Our eyes are toward the marble 
goal ; that is, Christlikeness, — nay, more, oneness 
with him ; that we may know Christ and be found 
in him, not having our own righteousness, which is 
of the law, but the righteousness which is by faith in 
him. 

We speak of the mystical union of the believer 
with Christ. In fact, however, there is no mystery 
here at all. Nor shall we attain our high ambition 
by dreaming and philosophizing about it. We shall 
not become Christlike by gazing upon the crucifix. 
It is a matter of plain common sense. To follow 
Christ, however difficult, is as simple a matter as for 
a child to follow in its mother's steps. He lived 
without guile ; so must we. He went about doing 
good ; so must we. He accepted truth as the chiefest 
thing ; and, without murmuring, so must we. To 
think his thoughts after him, to obey his precepts, to 
do his work, to spread his evangel, to reflect the moral 
beauty of his character, this is to win Christ and be 
found in him. This is the one thing which is worth 
doing, the one thing that needs to be done, the one 
thing that must be done. Is it the one thing I do ? 

The "one thing" suggests an absolute concentra- 



138 ONE THING. 

tion and unity of purpose. This is necessary to suc- 
cess in any ambition whatsoever of material or spir- 
itual life. The ** flying wedge " has been ruled out of 
amateur athletics, because it is an irresistible com- 
bination. It is energy with a point to it. It is avoir- 
dupois piercing like a spear. It did not originate, 
however, with our football athletes ; it was known to 
the ancient Romans and used as a mighty stratagem 
in battle. Nor did the Romans originate it. You 
may see the same manoeuvre in a flight of wild geese. 
There is no resisting the onward movement of a man 
who has converged all his energies to a single point, 
and who can say, " One thing I do." 

The Apostle Paul had three callings. (<3t.) He was a 
tent-maker ; this was his trade. A livelihood is neces- 
sary to life. Paul took his needle with him wherever 
he went. All honest men do likewise, {b?) He was a 
philosopher J this was his profession. He had been 
trained in a school of the Rabbis. He had attended 
the University of Jerusalem, where he sat at the feet 
of Gamaliel, called **The Flower of the Law." He 
was familiar also with the learning of the philosophic 
schools of Greece, (r.) But all this accomplishment 
was subordinated to high spiritual uses. He was 
pre-eminently an Apostle of Christ; this was his bus- 
iness. He was "sent," as all Christians are sent, to 
seek the kingdom in doing the Master's will. And 
this was always supreme. This was the one thing 
which he did. In this he was a single-hearted man. 

3. The Prize; namely, the high calling of God in 
Christ Jesus. The proudest moment in the life of an 
ancient athlete was when, victorious in the Olympic 
race, he went up higher to receive the laurel wreath 



ONE THING. 139 

from the king's hand. A year ago the Olympic games 
were revived in Athens. When they were over, the 
victors in the various contests passed in procession 
around the arena. I have seen a photograph of that 
scene. A sea of faces is looking down from the galler- 
ies. The people have risen to their feet, and are shout- 
ing forth their acclamations. The group of victors are 
passing along the course over which they had just 
before run so strenuously. Among them are three 
American youths carrying flags and with their right 
hands uplifted. Proud and happy are they ? O this 
is but child's play ! What will heaven be, think you, 
when the race is run ? This was in the mind of the 
Apostle when he said, '* The time is at hand ; I have 
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have 
kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me a 
crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous 
Judge, shall give me in that day." 

There are two ways of living. One is to go along 
the dead level of sordid life ; shoving the plane, pre- 
paring briefs, engaging in household tasks, sewing on 
buttons, pursuing handicraft, day after day grinding 
like Samson at the mill with no elevating thought of 
future blessedness, no high ambition — just trudging 
on, staff in hand, to the end of the journey — and then 
a blank wall of darkness. The other is climbing a 
steep path up the hills, higher and higher ; wondering 
with each new attainment if this is the last, if this 
grace will complete character, if this task will round 
out the record of duty, if this cross shall bear the in- 
scription, **It is finished ! " ; only to find at each sum- 
mit that there are new summits rising into the sky, 
new paths to climb ; the air growing purer and the 
sun shining clearer all along the way ; until one day 



140 OXE THIXG. 

we come to a mountain-top where there is nothing 
beyond but heaven ; as Moses ascended Nebo and 
saw the land that flowed with milk and honey. The 
golden gates of heaven opening like a sunset ! And 
a voice, the welcoming voice of the Master, calling 
still. '' Higher ! higher I higher ! " ; and then the 
transport to heavenly tasks and duties in the king- 
dom of God. 

Is it worth while? Ask the multitudes of saints 
triumphant. "Earth seems so little and so low when 
heaven shines full and bright." The domes of the 
celestial city ring with the shout of high ambition 
and eternal progress ; '• Higher I higher ! higher ! " 
For this we may cheerfully suffer the loss of all things. 
Forgetting, remembering, repenting, rejoicing, striv- 
ing, hoping ever, we press toward the mark for the 
prize of the high calling of God. 



Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve, 

And press with vigor on : 
A heavenly race demands thy zeal, 

And an immortal crown. 

Tis God's all-animating voice 

That calls thee from on high ; 
*Tis His own hand presents the prize 
To thine aspiring eye. 

A cloud of witnesses around 

Hold thee in full survey: 
Forget the steps already trod, 

And onward urge thy way. 



CAIN. 

" They have gone in the way of Cain."— Epistlb op Jude, nth Verse. 

The Epistle of Jude is called "catholic" because 
it is addressed not to any particular church, but to 
all generations, to all churches, to all sorts of men. 
It has to do with certain sins which prevail every- 
where and always, and it denounces errors which 
are found under all conditions and in every period 
of time. It seems to have been called forth by the 
appearance of false teachers whose specific errors 
are not here exposed, but who are characterized as 
"trees without fruit, twice dead and plucked up by 
the roots"; as "clouds without water"; as "wander- 
ing stars reserved for the blackness of darkness." 
There are false teachers in every age, and history is 
always repeating itself in the ebb and flow of the 
tides of error. 

The author of this Epistle characterizes these false 
teachers briefly in the phrase, " They have gone in the 
way of Cain." What was the "way of Cain"? In 
order to arrive at a definite determination of this, 
we must go back to the infancy of time. I won- 
der why my mind and conscience were directed 
to Cain in the early part of the week, when I was 
wondering what would be profitable for me and my 

(mi) 



142 CAIN. 

people ? I think it was the impression which had 
come to me, that we sometimes deal unfairly with 
this man. 

There is something to be said even for Cain, al- 
though his is a most repugnant figure. We scarcely like 
to mention him, but there is something to be said even 
for him. A legend which prevailed among the early 
Christian fathers says, that as Jesus was going to the 
Temple one day he drew near to the Gate Beau- 
tiful, and there in the market-place a mad dog had 
been killed. A crowd of the people stood around 
reviling it ; one saying one hard thing about the 
poor creature, and another saying another hard thing. 
The Teacher Jesus presently said, ''What beautiful 
teeth he has ! " 

It is a simple legend for the children of the early 
days, but it illustrates the fact that there is some- 
thing good everywhere if we will only find it, and 
there is no man so abandoned, and never has been, 
but that there was some lingering remnant of the 
spark of divineness in him. 

Now observe that Cain was the first victim of the 
law of heredity. On the day when he was born 
his mother cried in the delight of the moment, 
" I have gotten a man from Jehovah " ; the same joy 
that all mothers have when they hold their first- 
born in their hands. " I have gotten a gift from 
Heaven! " And she called him "My Treasure" — for 
that is the meaning of Cain — just as mothers call 
their children treasures at this day. She looked 
down into his face and dreamed dreams about him 
and wondered — for he was the first child ever born 
into the world — and saw visions of bright coming 
days. But disappointment awaited her ; when an- 



CAIN. 143 

Other brother was born she called him " Disappoint- 
ment" — for that is the meaning of Abel: "Vanity," 
or " Disappointment." Something had come in be- 
tween which had dashed that mother's hope. What 
was it ? The one constant factor in human nature 
and history ; to-wit, sin ! Sin had somehow de- 
veloped already in the heart of her treasure. He 
had inherited it. 

We speak of " original sin." You may call it 
whatever you please. If you have a prejudice against 
the doctrine of original sin, call it "heredity." It is 
bad enough anyway. It means simply that the blood 
of our fathers and mothers, with all its lading of sin 
and habit and shame, comes surging down through 
successive generations, and is flowing through us. 
Heredity ! — he inherited sm. 

What do we mean by the law of heredity ? What 
is a law ? It is the resultant of observations of 
phenomena. Here is a universal phenomenon. You 
never saw a child that did not, approaching the 
time of thoughtfulness and self-dependence, reach 
the condition of a sinner ; you never knew one. 
You never saw a righteous man. There is the 
universal phenomenon. There is no qualification ; we 
are all sinners. Wherever it came from, it is here. 
Heredity is a fact, and the statement of the result of 
the observation of this universal phenomenon is the 
law of heredity : or, as I prefer to call it — because 
I want to honor the orthodoxy of the Fathers, — 
original sin. No better philosophic expression has 
ever been found for it in science or theology than in 
the New England Primer : 

In Adam's fall 
We sinned all. 



144 CAIN. 

Observe, . next : Cain was the first heir of the 
covenant of grace. As he was the first victim of the 
law of heredity, so he was the first heir of the cove- 
nant of grace. He had the Bible and he had the 
Cross. No sooner had Adam sinned than the Bible 
came, the protevangel. God said to him, " The seed 
of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head, and it 
shall bruise his heel ; " that is to say, the seed of 
woman was somehow to redeem the fallen race, and 
in doing so there was to be the shedding of his 
blood. Now, that protevangel was the Scripture of 
those days. It was the nucleus of all the Scripture 
we have now. Holy men wrote, until the close of 
the sacred canon, all around that earliest evangel. 
*' All scripture given by inspiration " is but the ac- 
cumulation of God's Word ; the heart of it all is the 
protevangel, in which came the announcement of 
the Christ. 

Along with that protevangel came the altar. The 
altar is there with the very opening of history, — as 
the rabbis say — ^' close by the gates of Paradise " ; 
for the family were now dwelling in Eden, just out- 
side the Paradise from which they had been expelled. 
To use the symbolism of the Book, the angel with a 
flaming sword stood yonder at the gate to prevent 
their return to their primeval joys. The angel with 
the uplifted sword, God's ambassador of mercy as 
well as of justice, will yet open the gate, but now he 
keeps it closed during the prevalence of earthly sin. 
In that angel standing by the gate with flaming 
sword, the token of God's abiding presence in both 
justice and mercy, we have the earliest appearing of 
the Shechinah, or the glory of God : the luminous 
cloud which afterwards led the children of Israel, a 



CAIN. 145 

pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night ; the same 
token of the divine presence which afterwards hovered 
above the ark of the covenant and its golden cover, 
the mercy-seat, which was sprinkled with the blood 
of the sacrificial lamb ; the same Shechinah that was 
seen on the Mount of Transfiguration ; the She- 
chinah which still shines in the effulgence about 
the Cross, and illuminates the nations. There by 
the gate of Paradise stood the altar with the 
blood flowing over it, the symbolic fulfilment and 
presentation of the truth of the protevangel, — "the 
seed of woman shall bruise the serpent's head, 
and it shall bruise his heel : '* that is to say, " With- 
out the shedding of blood there is no remission 
of sin." 

Observe, next, that Cain was the first neretic. 
He took issue both with the protevangel and with 
the altar. He said substantially that he would have 
his own way of thinking, and so far forth he was 
right. But every man ought to be a free thinker 
within the prescribed limits of thought; otherwise 
he becomes a wild rover of the seas. Cain said, " I 
will do my own thinking. Why should there be 
blood in my religion ? Why shall I bring the first- 
fruits of the flock ? I will bring the first-fruits of 
the field;" and he brought the first-fruits of the 
garden and of the field and laid them upon his 
altar. There stood Abel's altar with its bleeding 
lamb, and here was Cain's. He was simply a self- 
willed man, determined upon having his own way. 
He had rejected revelation; he had turned his back 
upon the protevangel; he had resolved that God can 
ask nothing more of a man than that he shall give 
his best, that he shall love righteousness and observe 



146 CAIN. 

truth — what more can God ask ? There was no 
atonement upon his altar ; there was no recognition 
of the fact that '' The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth 
us from all sin." 

There is no heresy, beloved, except in the antago- 
nism to Scripture and the rejection of the Cross, 
and there in embryo was the rejection of both Script- 
ure and the Cross. For that reason God took 
cognizance of Abel's sacrifice, and preferred it to the 
other. It was a token of absolute loyalty to the rev- 
elation of his mercy in the foregleam of the Cross 
of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 

And observe, next, that Cain was the first mur- 
derer. The murder began by the side of that altar, 
when as it is written, *' He was wroth, and his 
countenance fell." Then he lifted the bludgeon to 
kill his brother: as the Scripture saith, "He that 
hateth his brother is a murderer." Envy, jealousy 
and bloody wrath were born within him at that mo- 
ment. The murder was not consummated, it may be, 
for years afterwards. It is said that as they went out 
together in the field on some occasion, long after 
perhaps, he " smote Abel that he died." The rabbis 
say that the suggestion came from the enemy of souls, 
who went before him and smote a goat with a stone 
that he fell dead. In any case, Cain as yet knew 
nothing of death. There had never been any such 
tnmg in the history of man. 

Cain slew his brother, and then, as the legend 
says, he put the dead body upon his shoulder and 
went hither and yon, not knowing what to do with it. 
As there had never been death, so there had never 
been burial. A raven came and buried its mate in 
the earth, and so Cain perceived how he might put 



CAIN. 147 

the dead away out of his sight. With that load 
lifted from his shoulder, but the spectre still before 
him, he went on crying, " My punishment is greater 
than I can bear." 

Observe, next, that Cain was the first enemy of 
missions. He stood beside the first grave that ever 
was digged upon the earth, and God spake to him : 
" Where is Abel, thy brother ? His blood crieth 
unto me from the ground, which hath opened her 
mouth to receive it." And Cain answered, " I know 
not; am I my brother's keeper?" He was the father 
of all the misanthropes, and selfish people on the 
earth, who say, " I have all I can do to take care of 
myself and my kinsfolk. I am not going to worry 
about other people " ; of all who say, '* My neighbor 
is the one who lives only next door: I have nothing 
to do with the Chinaman who lives the other side of 
the earth"; the father of the man who said recently in 
an editorial in one of our leading papers against mis- 
sions: "We have so many poor, hungry, suffering 
people at home — why should we give money to 
Borria-boola-gha ? " 

A solidified body, no matter how solid it is, has 
motion continually going on within it. A block of 
granite is simply a mass of motion; every particle is 
moving upon its neighbor. That is human society. 
You touch your remotest neighbor somehow or other. 
We say, ^''noblesse oblige^'' — that is to say, "a noble 
birth has its responsibilities." To what ? You are 
born of God, the universal Father of the race, who 
hath ''created all men of one blood for to dwell upon 
the face of the earth." That makes you neighbor 
to every man : noblesse oblige — this is your responsi- 
bility, and you must carry it. There is the word of 



148 CAIN. 

the Master : "Thou art thy brother's keeper; go thou 
to the remotest part of the earth and preach the 
Gospel to every neighbor of thine." 

And observe, next, that Cain -^2.^ the first vagabond. 
He went out cursed from the earth to be a wanderer 
and a vagabond upon it. God said, " Thou art 
cursed from the earth." God did not curse him. 
He simply stated an eternal fact. The man whose 
hands are stained with bloodguiltiness, as every man's 
hands are stained if he hateth his brother, or has in 
him the essence of selfishness, is cursed from the 
earth. And every such man is a wanderer from the 
face of God. 

The curse was a self-imposed curse. The only 
hell there is in the universe is the hell that a man 
makes for himself, and upon which God puts the seal 
of eternal justice when he says, " Depart from me," 
The only hell there is in the universe is to be without 
God, and so without hope ; to wander away from the 
luminous cloud that hung yonder above the gate of 
Paradise ; to pass forever out of sight of it and feel 
that there is to be no Paradise Regained. The undy- 
ing worm is true ; the fire that never is quenched is 
true : but no worm can gnaw like the remorse of the 
soul that is exiled from God ; no fire can burn like 
the despair of a man who has fled from before the 
face of his God. That was in the cry of Jesus, 
when in the consummation of his death agony he 
cried: " Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani .^ " going out 
himself as a wanderer and a vagabond, as the rep- 
resentative of all the lost and ruined human race, into 
the blackness of outer darkness, away from the face 
of God : " My God, my God, why hast thou forsa- 
ken me?" 



CAIN. 149 

Here the curtain falls upon Cain. We are told 
only a little of the sequel. Why was not capital 
punishment inflicted upon Cain beside his dead 
brother that day ? Why ? Because that man, and 
all other men, must have another chance. God bears 
with us to the uttermost limit of our probationary 
life, and gives us full warning of the dead line. 
Let Cain go yonder bearing the spectre of his pain 
and punishment with him. God will go with him. 
God puts a mark upon him. We speak of the mark of 
Cain as if it were a curse. It was the mark of God's 
mercy. If there were any visible mark on the man's 
forearm, as the rabbis say, or on his forehead, I know 
what it was : it was the mark of the Cross. He went 
out, away toward the East, to bear with him the assur- 
ance that God was still ready to forgive — for there is 
no limit to his mercy, and even bloodguiltiness cannot 
stand as a barrier between a guilty soul and the peace 
of God — he went out and built a city, unable to bear 
his solitude. He became the father of enterprising 
men, the Cainites, the handicraftsmen of those days. 
I wonder if ever he built an altar. There is a glimmer 
.of hope for Cain in the fact that he called his first- 
born " Enoch " — '' Consecration ; " and that he called 
the name of his city, "Given to God," and that he 
had another son, " Methusael " — " The Champion of 
God." He had apparently not forgotten the mean- 
ing of the mark or sign, whatever it was, that God 
was ready to forgive that him. 

Here we leave him. But, beloved in Christ, let 
us take heed and beware of the way of Cain. Go 
back far enough now to remember this: that the 
whole trouble came from his rejection of the prote- 
Vangel and the altar. Let us believe in God's reve- 



150 CAIN. 

lation, and not interpose our own vain reason betwixt 
our welfare and the wisdom of God. Let us accept 
the Christ, the Lamb of God, slain from the found- 
ation of the world. The blood of that early sin 
crieth still from the ground, but "the blood of Christ 
speaketh better things than that of Abel." 

At the very moment when Cain was contemplat- 
ing his crime, when he was wroth and his counte- 
nance fell, the voice of God said, " Why art thou 
wroth ? If thou doest not well, if thine altar is not 
right, if there is no blood in thy faith, if there is no 
atonement in thy religion, if thou hast rejected Christ 
thus far — why art thou wroth ? A sin-offering lieth 
at thy door": as if a lamb were there bound and ready 
for the altar, and all that Cain needed to do was to 
displace the first-fruits of the field — the religion 
which he had made out of his own fancy and reason — 
and place the lamb upon the altar, and render unto 
God a just sacrifice in the acceptance of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, who appeared thus early in this fore- 
gleam and silhouette of the Cross. 

That altar, the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
still stands close by the gate of Paradise. He who 
believes in Christ, though he may wander far east- 
ward, as Cain did ; though he may have followed 
his own devices all through a long lifetime ; though 
his hands be red with bloodguiltiness — if he believes 
in Christ, the Lamb of God, slain from the founda. 
tion of the world, shall enter in, and have a right at 
last to the tree of life which is in the midst of the 
Paradise of God. 



THE ELOQUENT SILENCE OF JESUS. 

" If it were not so, I would have told you." — John xiv. 2. 

It is a little thing to say of Jesus that he was an 
honest man. And yet there is much in that ; for "an 
honest man's the noblest work of God." Moreover, 
there is nothing so rare. The rule among men is 
masks and disguises. Not one of us would be will- 
ing to have a window in his breast through which 
our neighbors might see the secret imaginations of 
our hearts. 

An honest man is a two-sided man ; that is, his 
silence is as honest as his speech. It is customary 
in Siam to punish an incorrigible falsifier by sewing 
up his lips. But the cure is inadequate ; for a lie 
may be told by the lifting of the eyebrows, or the 
pointing of a finger. It is possible "to convey a 
libel with a frown, or wink a reputation down." In- 
deed, a falsehood may be told by making no motion 
at all. A gossip comes to you with a scandalous 
story which you have reason to believe is false ; in 
common honesty you should make an indignant de- 
nial, but you utter not a word. Speak up, man ! 
Silence gives consent. Silence is a liar, a slanderer, 
a forsworn enemy to friendship and truth and right- 
eousness. 

(151) 



152 THE ELOQUENT SILENCE OF JESUS. 

Let us say then that Jesus, the divine Teacher, 
was absolutely honest. There was no guile on his 
lips ; there was no guile in his heart. His life was 
as transparent as his utterance ; his silence was as 
candid as his speech. 

There are those who insist upon having no creed 
save the teachings of Christ. If that statement may 
be accepted in its full significance, we shall not dis- 
sent from it. The teachings of our Lord had to do 
with all the great problems and verities of the end- 
less life. But when we speak of his teachings, we 
must be permitted to include his eloquent silence. 
For in many ways his silence was more eloquent than 
his words. He found his disciples in possession of 
certain views respecting truth, of which, had they 
been false, it was his simple duty as an honest Master 
to dispossess them. It is with this consideration in 
mind that we turn our attention now to his assur- 
ance, "If it were not so, I would have told you." 

Firsts with respect to himself. The world had been 
looking for the coming of Christ. This feeling of 
expectancy was universal, but the Jews in particular 
were on the quivive. The coming of Messiah was 
spoken of as "The Consolation of Israel." They 
had been led by their prophets from time immemorial 
to believe, that in the fulness of time one would ap- 
pear who should restore the glory of their nation. 
His nature and character were predicted in minute 
detail. This was " The Hope of Israel." The dis- 
ciples of Jesus as Jews shared in the common expec- 
tancy. In their familiar intercourse with Jesus, 
listening to his sermons and beholding his wonderful 
works, they came to believe that he was the long- 
expected Christ. Let it be observed, that he per- 



THE ELOQUENT SILENCE OF JESUS. 153 

mitted them to entertain that view and uttered no 
word against it. 

At the beginning of his ministry he was an- 
nounced by John the Baptist as the Lamb of God. 
The term had no significance whatever, except as it 
pronounced Jesus to be the antitype of all the sacri- 
fices which the children of Israel had been wont to 
offer in expiation of their sins. John meant, if he 
meant anything, that Jesus was " the Lamb of God 
slain from the foundation of the world." It was so 
understood by the disciples, though with only a dim 
apprehension of the manner in which that intimation 
was to be ultimately fulfilled. And Jesus allowed his 
disciples to rest in that view of his office and work. 

As he was once journeying through Csesarea- 
Philippi, he made inquiry of his disciples, "Who do 
men say that I am ? " And when they answered, 
"Some say one thing, and some say another," he 
further inquired, " But who say ye that I am ? " Then 
Peter witnessed his good confession, " Thou art the 
Christ, the Son of the living God." Not only did 
Jesus make no disavowal, but he distinctly consented 
in the words, " My Father which is in heaven hath 
revealed it unto thee." 

In the upper room he met his disciples after his 
resurrection, and bade doubting Thomas thrust his 
fingers into his wounds in evidence of his triumph 
over death. Then the skeptical disciple fell before 
him, crying, " My Lord and my God." Had Jesus 
been less than very God of very God, he must, in 
common honesty, have said in that very moment, like 
the angel in the Apocalypse, " See thou do it not." 
But he permitted this act of divine homage, and so 



154 THE ELOQUENT SILENCE OF JESUS. 

by his silence distinctly avowed his equality with 
God. 

There are moments when all believers are tempted 
to doubt. How could it be otherwise, when the great 
verities lie in the realm of the invisible, and we have 
only fleshly eyes ? We walk by faith. Our faith as 
Christians rests upon the testimony of our Lord. 
We stand at the manger, bewildered by the mystery 
of the incarnation. How can it be that he whom the 
heaven of heavens could not contain, lies here, 
wrapped in swaddling bands? We stand under the 
cross and say, " How can it be that the Sovereign of 
Life should thus bow to the King of Terrors ? " We 
stand at the open sepulchre and say within ourselves, 
"How can it be that one whose helpless hands were 
folded over his breast, should by his own power 
break these bands and take captivity captive ? " At 
this point the silence of Jesus is as convincing as his 
speech. " Ye believe in the incarnation, ye believe in 
the atonement, ye believe in the resurrection, and ye 
rightly believe ; for if these things were not so, I 
would have told you." 

Seco?id, as to Scripture. At the time of the advent, 
the Jewish people had the most implicit faith in their 
oracles. The Scribes were an order of Biblical ex- 
perts, set apart to the study of the Scriptures. They 
would not touch the parchment with unwashen 
hands; they weighed and measured the relative 
value of its doctrinal truths and precepts. If ever 
*• Bibiolatry " prevailed on earth, it was in those days. 
The people regarded the Scripture as the whole 
truth, and nothing but the truth. They taught it to 
their children; they committed it to memory; they 
bound it as frontlets between their eyes. 



THE ELOQUENT SILENCE OF JESUS. 155 

The disciples of Jesus, as loyal Jews, shared in the 
common belief as to the infallibility of holy writ. In 
determining upon his Messiahship, their only ques- 
tion was whether or not he adjusted himself to the 
prophecies. Like ourselves, they received the Scrip- 
tures as their infallible rule of faith and practice. If 
they were mistaken in this opinion of Scripture, 
Christ as their honest teacher should have told them so. 

It was charged that he opposed himself to the 
Scriptures because he had denied the traditions of the 
elders. In refuting this charge he repeatedly an- 
nounced his loyalty to ** the Law and the Prophets," 
that being the technical title of the Scriptures at the 
time. He said, " I am not come to destroy the Law, 
but to fulfill it" ; and, "Not one jot or tittle of the 
Law shall pass away until all be fulfilled." He said 
again, "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think 
ye have eternal life, and these are they which testify 
of me." In his sacramental prayer for his disciples 
he said, " Sanctify them by thy truth, thy word is 
truth." He referred with approval to many of those 
particular portions of Scripture which in some 
quarters are now alleged to be fabulous and false. 
He made reference to the story of Lot's wife, the 
destruction of the cities of the plain, and the deluge. 
He referred to Jonah in the whale's belly as a pro- 
phetic type of his resurrection from the dead, and, in 
a manner, adventured the genuineness of his mission 
and work upon the truth of it. 

At this point we find ourselves in a serious di- 
lemma. If the Scriptures are not true, our Lord 
either knew or did not know it. In the latter case he 
was manifestly not qualified to be a teacher in spiritual 
things. To say that Jesus, in emptying himself of the 



156 THE ELOQUENT SILENCE OF JESUS. 

form of his divine attributes went so far as to become 
ignorant in matters supremely important to spiritual 
life, is to rob him of all that should constitute a true 
Saviour of men. To say that he was not so wise in 
his acquaintance with the great doctrines of the spirit- 
ual world, or with the oracles that reveal them, as 
some of our modern Biblical experts, is to blaspheme 
the incarnate Son of God. It is difficult to see how 
any who accept that view, should profess to receive 
him as Prophet, Priest or King. 

But the alternative is worse. If Jesus was aware 
that the Scriptures were not true, as his disciples 
received them, but in fact largely a collection of myths 
and traditions in many points untrustworthy and 
false — this being the position which many of our 
destructive critics have assumed — and by his silence 
allowed his disciples to rest in their fetich worship, 
their faith in falsehood, their misapprehension of 
alleged truth, then it is impossible to regard him as 
an honest man. 

The great body of Christian people in these days 
have an implicit faith in Scripture. They mean what 
they say when they profess to receive it as the infal- 
lible rule of their faith and practice. Many of them 
"just know, and know no more, their Bible's true." 
The very air is full of insinuations against the book. 
Have we been mistaken in our confidence? Have 
we been affixing our faith to a redactor's collection of 
myths and fables ? It is impossible to believe that 
Christ who has promised to direct his people, as he 
led his disciples into truth, should have permitted us 
to rest in such a calamitous misapprehension. We 
believe in the Scriptures because we believe in him. 
Our faith in the oracles rests upon the honesty of 



THE ELOQUENT SILENCE OF JESUS. 157 

our great Teacher. There is infinite assurance in his 
word, "If it were not so, I would have told you." 

Thirds as to the ^''Larger Hope.'' The Jews believed 
in Gehenna. Their thought of eternal punishment 
found its illustration in a deep ravine called Hinnom 
close by the temple, where the offal of the sacrifices 
was thrown. There the fires were always burning, 
and decay was a continuous process. From this 
came the phrase, "Their worm dieth not, the fire is 
not quenched." The Jews believed in a future life. 
They believed furthermore that the present life is pro- 
bationary and that the future state must be deter- 
mined by character formed here and now. ** As the 
tree falleth so shall it lie." And they believed also 
in the eternity of punishment. To these views which 
were shared by the disciples Jesus gave the weight 
of his authority again and again. He spoke of the 
separation of the wheat from the tares; of the goats 
from the sheep; of Lazarus from Dives. He spoke 
of hell as a place of weeping and wailing and gnashing 
of teeth. He used the phrase aion ton aionon^ ^^ ior- 
ever and ever." He said, " If thy hand offend thee, 
cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life 
maimed, than, having two hands, to go into hell, 
\nto the fire that never shall be quenched; where 
iheir worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 
And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for 
thee to enter halt into life, than, having two feet, to 
be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be 
quenched; where their worm dieth not, and the fire 
is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck 
it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom 
of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be 



158 THE ELOQUENT SILENCE OF JESUS. 

cast into hell-fire; ^Yhere their worm dieth not, and 
the fire is not quenched." 

It thus appears that the direct teaching of Jesus 
was most positive as to the matter of eternal punish- 
ment for unforgiven sin. The suggestion that his 
warnings were not founded upon an actual danger, 
but merely intended to frighten the indifferent^ is not 
for a moment to be allowed. He found his disciples 
and the people generally believing in an awful truth, 
and he left them there. Had there been a " Larger 
Hope," a reasonable ground for the thought of an- 
other probation in the future life, he must have sug- 
gested it. He was the kindest soul that ever lived on 
earth, yet by his words, and still more by his silence 
with reference to the common belief, he taught that 
the only hope of salvation is in repentance in this 
present life. The belief of the universal church of 
Christ is the same; and if it were not true he would 
have told us. 

Fourth, as to JieaTCJU His disciples had given up 
all to follow him. For their devotion to his Messianic 
claims, they were cast out of the synagogues and 
persecuted in many ways. The axe was always 
gleaming before their eyes ; but they believed in the 
compensation of a blessed future. They looked for- 
ward to a gladsome day, when abundant restitution 
should be m.ade for all their privations and sufferings. 
We entertain the same hope. We reckon that the 
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be 
compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. 

The teaching of Jesus with reference to heaven is 
most comprehensively found in his words, '' In my 
Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, 
I would have told you ; I go to prepare a place for 



THE ELOQUENT SILENCE OF JESUS. 159 

you."* It is a prepared place for a prepared people. 
It is a home where the redeemed shall meet in joy- 
unspeakable and full of glory. 

One of the most frequent questions with reference 
to heaven is, Shall we know each other there? It is 
inconceivable, in view of the relation of the disciples 
to each other and Christ, that they should not have 
entertained that view ; and they must have been un- 
speakably encouraged in that belief by the words of 
Jesus in this connection : " If it were not so I would 
have told you." 

Our view of heaven changes as our years increase. 
I can remember when my conception of heaven was 
chiefly associated with the glowing descriptions of 
the Apocalypse. It meant gates of pearl, and golden 
streets, and multitudes of white-robed angels hymn- 
ing a perpetual song, ** Holy, holy, holy Lord 
God Almighty!" But there came a time when a 
beloved sister fell asleep, and thereafter her face 
was always associated with every thought of that 
celestial city. Then the dear father went, and 
then the first-born of the household, and then 
another " with folded hands and dreamy eyes 
went through the gates of paradise." And now all 
heaven is full of faces, and there are hands beckon- 
ing and voices calling. So, more and more, as 
the years pass, do I realize the joyous significance 
of the Master's word, " My Father's house." Heaven 
is home. 

So part we sadly in the wilderness. 
To meet again in sweet Jerusalem. 

This is the glorious hope which dwells in the 
hearts of God's people everywhere. We look for a 



l6o THE ELOQUENT SILENCE OF JESUS. 

gladsome day, when we shall see the familiar faces of 
those who have gone before us, and clasp hands in 
the unutterable joy of re-union, and shall go out no 
more forever. The words of the Master, so far as he 
spoke directly with reference to the unseen world, 
are all in harmony with this belief. Still more con- 
vincing, however, is his assurance, " In my Father's 
house are many mansions ; if it were not so, I would 
have told you." 

What then is our conclusion ? Be not faithless, 
but believing. We are often tossed about in doubts 
and misgivings as the disciples were in their little 
boat on Gennesaret when Jesus came to them walk- 
ing on the waves, " It is I," he said ; " be not afraid." 
And Peter answered, "If it be thou, bid me come to 
thee upon the water." The Lord said: "Come," 
Peter set forth bravely until, as the billows surged 
about him, he began to sink and cry, " Lord save me 
or I perish." The hand of the Master was stretched 
forth with this word, " O thou of little faith, where- 
fore didst thou doubt ?" Aye, beloved, wherefore did 
we ever doubt ? Our faith is buttressed by the teach- 
ings of our Lord in his word and in his silence. The 
pagan Pythagoras said, " If God were ever to render 
himself visible among men, he would choose light for 
his body and truth for his soul." He has made him- 
self visible among men in the incarnate form of Jesus, 
which shines ever upon us through an atmosphere of 
truth. Let us believe. This is the peace of Christian 
living, to believe in the absolute candor of the incar- 
nate Son. "Ye believe in God," he said, " believe 
also in me. The things which I have taught you 
abide in infinite truth and wisdom. If it were not 
so, I would have told you." 



I.-IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 

*' Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool which is called in the 
Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great 
multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the 
moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into 
the pool and troubled the water. Whosoever then first after the troub- 
ling of the water stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he 
had."— John v. 2-4. 

[The statement about the angel, as everybody 
knows, is a gloss, and does not properly belong here. 
It crept in, perhaps at the hand of some monk who 
was copying the manuscript and put this explanation 
into the margin ; whence it found its way into the 
text.] 

The Feast of Purim did not belong to the cere- 
monial religion of Israel. It was distinctly a secular 
feast : that is to say, it was not by divine ordi- 
nance. There were three annual religious festivals • 
Pentecost, Tabernacles, and Passover ; but the chil- 
dren of Israel celebrated the Purim with the greatest 
enthusiasm, because it commemorated their deliver- 
ance from the awful massacre which had been 
planned by wicked Haman, the prime minister of 
King Ahasuerus. After the people were saved 
through the intercession of Esther, the three days' 
fast beginning with the 14th of Adar was changed 
into a three days' festival, and it is celebrated among 
the Jews to this day. 

(161) 



l62 I. — IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 

During this feast Jesus came down to Jerusalem. 
No doubt he betook himself first of all to the Temple, 
for his heart was always there. If so, he heard the 
priest reading from the book of Esther, and observed 
the people, at every mention of the name of Haman, 
their persecutor, all with one accord stamp their feet 
and cry, " The name of the wicked shall rot ! " He 
saw there the offering of the sacrifices, and heard the 
thanksgivings. But this was in the decadence of 
Israel, and he knew that while the people were wor- 
shiping God and rejoicing with their lips, their hearts 
were far from him. The atmosphere of the temple 
was stifling to this Son of Man, so he betook himself 
into the streets of Jerusalem. The people were 
waving green branches, masquerading, singing, and 
making merry, in every way : and the Lord's heart 
was out of sympathy with it. Where should he go ? 
His soul was burdened with the thought of an agon- 
izing humanity and with a desire to deliver the chil- 
dren of men. 

He turns his steps toward the booths and the 
tables by the sheep market, and so reaches Bethesda 
— the House of Mercy — a pentagonal booth with five 
porches, wherein lie many incurables — impotent folk, 
cripples, the halt and the withered, who have been 
forsaken of their friends and have given up hope. 
Here they lie about the central pool, watching, 
waiting, for the moving of the water when an angel 
shall come down and brush the water with his 
wing. It was an intermittent thermal spring, and it 
was thought that whosoever first entered into the 
water when it should be moved was delivered from 
whatsoever disease he had. So these forlorn folk were 
watching for the ripple upon the pool. Many of them 



I. — IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 163 

were suffering from nervous maladies, as seems to be 
suggested in the words ''impotent folk ; " and people 
who suffer in that way are oftentimes cured even by 
superstition. There is no more potent remedy in all 
the materia medica than the imagination. Ask Chris- 
tian Science if that be not so. Poor, suffering folk ! 
The whole world was a Bethesda in those days. 

A few years ago a pamphlet appeared with 
this title: ''The Bitter Cry of Outcast London." 
It was an awful picture of the shame and the suffer- 
ing of that populous city. Then, presently, there 
came a book written by General Booth, of the Sal- 
vation Army, with this title: " In Darkest England." 
People now began to think about the great unseen 
multitude who were suffering all about them, and a 
new word came in, — "Slumming." It became the 
proper thing to do ; and respectable people went 
about visiting among the distressed of that metro- 
politan city. It is about the thing represented in 
that word that I wish to speak to you. I like better 
an expression that came in with the Lord Jesus 
Christ. "Slumming" is good; "evangelizing " is 
better. 

I. Note, to begin with, as we are here together in 
Bethesda, " man's inhumanity to man.*^ For that is 
what this means — the sufferers lying friendless and 
forsaken, while all Jerusalem is celebrating its Sat- 
urnalia ; while the people are laughing and singing 
and making merry in the streets. Here they lie — the 
lame, the withered, and the halt, the friendless, and 
the despairing, waiting for the moving of the pool. 

Man's inhumanity to man 

Makes countless thousands mourn. 

Do you remember Landseer's picture of the 



1 64 I. — IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 

wounded stag creeping with trembling steps toward 
the edge of the pool for his last refreshing draught 
before he dies, while off yonder the herd are fleeing 
across the hills ? It is a picture of common life. 
Here they are — the forsaken. Where are their 

friends ? 

O, it is pitiful, 

Near a whole city full, 

Friends they have none. 

Selfishness is born in us. Here it is: two children 
and two apples on a plate; the boy says to his little 
sister, *'You choose." That is magnanimous. She 
chooses the larger, and he says to her, *' You selfish 
thing! I meant to choose that myself." It is born in 
us. "The carnal mind is enmity against God," and is 
enmity against man. 

Out in Bombay they are suffering from the plague 
and are probably going to suffer more and more. To- 
day when one is stricken, his pagan friends forsake 
him. While we sit so comfortably in the sanctuary, 
the dead are lying in the streets of Bombay unburied. 
Little children are abandoned by their mothers, and 
wives are forsaken by their husbands. It is so the 
whole world over, and it is too much so, alas! among 
those who profess to be the followers of Christ, the 
elect of the world. Selfishness is still in us. 

If I were to speak of " the Tenderloin " here, you 
would resent the word ; but you cannot do better 
than face the fact, for it is close to us. This church 
elbows it — a great, surging world of shame and 
unspeakable vice ; vice of men and women of high 
degree and low degree ; shame unspeakable ; crime 
everywhere, hiding behind the doorways ; political 
and social vice just beside us. We would rather not 



I. — IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 165 

hear about it. God pity them, and God pity us, un- 
less, like the Lord Jesus, we find our way to our 
Bethesda and relieve it ! Whether it is right here, or 
out on our frontiers, or by the banks of the River 
Congo, the word of the Master is always the same. 
"Ye are the salt of the earth." Salt sweetens; salt 
purifies. " But if the salt have lost its savour, where- 
with shall it be salted ? It is thenceforth good for 
nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under 
foot of men." 

II. 'Bxxt now con^idQV the philanthropy of Jesus. He 
comes to Bethesda. He is ever walking in the 
porches by the pool. If he were to come to New 
York to-day, would the churches receive him ? I do 
believe they would — if they knew him. If he were to 
come into this aisle to-day, not a pew door would be 
closed against him. You who profess to follow the 
Lord Christ would all fall at his feet and kiss them 
in gratitude and love — if you knew him. But, alas ! 
you might not know him, for perhaps he would come 
as a carpenter, clothed in homespun, and with horny, 
toil-worn hands. If he were to walk down the Avenue 
or Broadway, would all the people receive him ? Yes, 
all — if they only knew him. But, alas ! they might 
not know him, I doubt if those sufferers in Bethesda 
knew him as he walked in the porches that day ; but 
he was the ideal philanthropist, who set a pattern for 
all who love him. 

Observe the marks of philanthropy in him : 

First, he sought the sufferers out. He went with 

willing feet to Bethesda to find them. So must we. 

The beggars who meet us along the streets ; the poor, 

sodden women with red faces and brows seamed 



l66 I. — IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 

and scarred with vice, and shawls drawn about their 
shivering forms, begging for a penny ; the tramps 
who want their supper, and waylay us along the street 
— they have their claim upon us, — but, after all, 
those are not the people whom primarily we are 
bound to help. There is a world of shame and 
anguish and suffering that never comes out on the 
street to stretch out its hands, but hides away and 
says, "In God's name, come and find me"; poor 
seamstresses making shirts at thirty cents a dozen, 
and working seven days in the week to keep soul 
and body together ; men with proud spirits dying 
to-day and asking no help ; little children famished 
to skin and bone, — poor innocents who are above 
begging ! Oh, if the roofs were lifted ! If we 
could see into the attics ! If we could look down 
into the basements ! If our eyes could but gaze 
upon the "submerged tenth"! Our hearts would 
go out toward them. 

God be praised for our Associated Charities ! If 
we will not go to the suffering, our Associated Chari- 
ties will go for us and find them out. But, after all, 
we cannot shift the burden that way. We must 
go to Bethesda ourselves. We must seek the suffer- 
ing, that we may help them. That is the foundation 
of foreign missions as well as of city missions. 
" Go ye everywhere, evangelize, help as you can, the 
children of men." 

Then observe, in the second place, that Jesus looked 
on the sufferers. He sought them out, and looked 
on them. Now, that is a great thing. There are 
multitudes of good people w^ho are willing to help, 
but they do not want to look on suffering. "Don't 
harrow my soul with the story of pain. Here is my 



I. — IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 167 

purse. Take all you want and give relief. My heart 
is bleeding ; the tears are rolling down my cheeks. 
Take what you want, but don't talk about it any 
more. It rends me." O, the quackery of such char- 
ity as that ! Go, look on the suffering ! Look on it ! 
See the shame and the hunger, the crime, the pain, 
the anguish ! See it with your own eyes if you want 
to help it. 

You can see pathos in the theatre. You love it 
there. You read it in the last novel. You will go 
clear through to the last chapter to find the climax of 
agony. But you turn your eyes from it in real life. 
The tenderest-hearted man that I ever knew was a 
surgeon whom I am glad to number among my 
cherished friends. I have seen him stand with knife 
in hand above the body of a man under anaesthetics, 
whom he counted as his brother. While we who 
stood near were all quivering at the sight, his hand 
was without a tremor ; and as he cut close to the 
heart there was no sign of a tear falling from his eye. 
He had to look in order that he might help ; so must 
you and I. 

The third token of the real philanthropy of Jesus 
lay in the fact that he pitied the sufferers. There was 
one who for thirty and eight years had been 
impotent, hoping against hope, feeling all the while 
that there was nothing but misery awaiting him. 
The Lord looked on him and pitied him. You 
and I might have said, " It serves him right ! " 
for the narrative tells us that this man was 
suffering for his sin. His vice had gotten into his 
flesh and bones, and he was reaping what he had 
sown. "Let him bear it!" That is the way we 
treat men. The Lord be praised that he does not 



l68 I. — IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 

take us at our word, for we are all suffering from 
our sins, and there is something to be said for the 
worst of us; but he pities all. He pitied the worst 
man that was in Bethesda that day. 

Not long ago in an elevated train I was holding 
by a strap, and I saw a curious thing in front of me. 
There was a young man, and just behind him a 
young woman. I could not see her face — her back 
was toward me; — but with her left arm she clung to 
the young man's waist, and with her right hand she 
patted him on the shoulder now and then in a 
most affectionate way. It seemed to me and to 
others that she was doing an unseemly thing. But 
all at once she turned toward me, and I perceived 
that she was blind! It was her sense of utter de- 
pendence that made her cling that way. So we pass 
judgment behind people's backs. 

Then at the balance let's be mute 
We never can adjust them. 

Then, note the fourth token of the real benev- 
olence and philanthropy of Jesus in the fact that 
having come and seen and pitied, he helped. He admin- 
istered relief to that worst man. He said to him, 
"Wilt thou be made whole? Take up thy bed and 
walk." Benevolence is not a sentiment; benevolence 
is a principle. Philanthropy is not a sentiment that 
finds its expression in mere tears and words of com- 
passion. Philanthropy is a duty. 

A traveller relates, that on the banks of the Nile, 
he saw multitudes of poor, sore-eyed, half-clad, 
wretched beggars who ran along crying for help in 
the name of God; and the captain of the boat, a Mos- 
lem, scarcely taking pains to turn his eyes toward 



I. — IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 169 

them, kept repeating over and over again, " God pity 
you! God pity you! God pity you!" That is the 
way we do. A warm hand, with a penny in it, is 
worth all such expressions that a man can utter in a 
long life. The Lord Christ proved his compassion in 
that he administered help to those who needed it. 

Dear friends, let us praise God that we have 
no Bethesdas in these days. You go to any of our 
hospitals and mark the cleanliness and sweetness 
there. See the physician with his skill, and the 
nurses in their white aprons, with soft words, soft 
steps and gentle touch: that is the Bethesda of 
Christendom to-day. O, there is an infinite gulf be- 
tween Bethesda in old Jerusalem and our hospitals ! 
What makes it ? Jesus has been walking in the 
porches all through the ages, and the hospital, which 
is peculiar to the charmed circle that we call '* Chris- 
tendom," is a fruit of the philanthropy of the historic 
Christ. He is the divine patron of all the beneficence 
which distinguishes our modern civilization. 

He has been walking among the nations, also. Is 
not your heart glad to-day because of the arbitration 
treaty ? Are you not praising Jehovah because the 
two great Anglo-Saxon peoples have clasped hands 
and said, "There shall be no more garments rolled 
in blood." What does that mean ? It means that 
Christ has been walking through the porches, and 
that at last the sword that maims and cuts and kills 
is sheathed. Swords shall be beaten into plowshares, 
spears into pruning hooks, and Shiloh shall come. 

We are moved to-day with a sense of obligation 
toward all the suffering children of men. Let me ad- 
monish you before you leave this sanctuary that it is 



I 70 I. — IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 

a great mistake to go slumming without God. There are 
people who do it, but it is an awful thing to pass out 
amid the shame and suffering of the world, to see the 
gaping wounds, the breaking hearts, the suffering 
children, poor, desolate, friendless humanity, so over- 
whelming, so multitudinous, everywhere, and not to 
feel that God rules. If there is no God, what 
is the sufferer to me, or I to him ? Let him 
suffer on. Let him bear his anguish to-day ; to- 
morrow he will be gone, and there is an end. 
If there is a God — O, if there is a Father, and I am 
his son — and if he has a great family of people who 
are bound together in a mighty, organic unity which 
we call the Church of God — and if the world rolls 
around every day further into his light, and he is 
having his way among the children of men, then I 
can go with my message, believing that in the ful- 
ness of time he will heal all. "The hills and the 
mountains shall break forth before him into singing, 
and the trees of the field shall clap their hands." 
'* He shall wipe away the tears from all faces." All 
is right if God be in the reckoning; all is wrong, for- 
ever, horridly wrong, without God. 

One thing more, and then we are done with 
Bethesda until to-night. // is a dreadful mistake to go 
slumming with nothing but bread j for down below the 
hunger, and deep under the gaping wound, there is a 
longing for something better than that. Man is made 
in the divine likeness, with a longing for joys and 
hopes that reach out into an endless life. If we go out 
to save and deliver and help, let us go not only with 
bread, but with absolution ; with the message of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and 



I. — IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 171 

are heavy laden, and I will give you rest ; " rest from 
your wounds, and your heartaches, and your hunger; 
rest from your despair and fearful looking forward to 
judgment ; " for the Son of Man hath power on earth 
to forgive sins." 



II.— IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 

" And a certain man was there which had an infirmity thirty and eight years." 
— John v. 5. 

It was a desperate case. Observe some of the 
unfavorable symptoms. 

To begin with, the disease was chronic j the man had 
been thus afflicted for thirty and eight years. O, 
what a story of suffering and hope deferred ! If all 
the pains and weariness and disappointments of those 
thirty-eight years could be bound together, what a 
bundle of sorrow they would make ! Thirty-eight 
weary years he had been waiting for relief, and wait- 
ing in vain. 

Then, also, his disease was self-imposed. Vice had 
brought it upon him. There are some ills that we 
inherit from our forebears. I think my father must 
have exposed himself somewhere on a wet day, and 
given me this twinge of rheumatism which I feel occa- 
sionally in my right shoulder. Your mother before 
your birth was frightened at something, by reason of 
which you were always a timid child, and are now, per- 
haps, afflicted with nervous debility. Our convivial an- 
cestors sat up at late suppers, over-drank and over-ate, 
and we have inherited dyspepsia. Thus many of our 
ills are heirlooms ; we call this fact "heredity." No 
doubt the man at Bethesda had inherited much, but 
this particular disease was definitely his own. I saw 

(172) 



II. — IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 173 

a skeleton a little while ago in the office of a physician; 
and on one of the bones was a very manifest scar, a 
circular indentation. ''What is that?" I asked. He 
glanced at it, and said simply, "Vice." And I 
remembered what the Good Book says : ''The bones 
of the wicked are full of the sins of their youth." 
This cripple had reason to be the more hopeless be- 
cause he had made his own bed and doomed himself 
to lie in it. 

Moreover, it was probably a repulsive disease; for 
his friends and kinsfolk had abandoned him. He 
was here so absolutely friendless and alone that he 
had none, when the water was moved, to put him 
down into it. Did you ever hear of a more pathetic 
case? " For while I am coming, another steppeth 
down before me." No doubt I am looking into the 
faces of men and women who feel desperately lonely 
and friendless. There are multitudes of young men 
and young women, here in New York, growing up 
with the enterprise of the great city, who have left 
the memories and delights of home behind them. 
One said to me the other day, " I have been here 
a year and a half, and I have not made a single 
friend." But there is One that sticketh closer than 
a brother — One who will come to you in the little 
hall bedroom alone at night, and stay with you there, 
closer than touching or seeing, who will commune 
with you and delight your soul. There is no friend 
so near, so kindly, so always true and helpful, as my 
Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. But this man in 
Bethesda knew little or nothing of him. 

There were, however, some favorable symptoms. 
His case was by no means as desperate as it might 
have been. 



174 II- — IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 

First of all, he knew his condition. There are some dis- 
eases that dull the consciousness; they are so insidious 
and deceptive that a man, though he feel the cold fin- 
gers of death close to his heartstrings, will not ac- 
knowledge his danger. Palsy is one of them, consump- 
tion is another. I had a sad duty to perform a while 
ago. A friend said to me that his eldest son was dying 
of a pulmonary trouble ; he was not aware of his true 
condition, and would I tell him ? I went into the 
room and said, "Good day ; how are you?" *' O, I 
shall be around in a few days," said he. His hands 
seemed as thin as a wafer; his poor face was pinched, 
and his eyes growing dull. I went over and laid 
my hand on his, so cold and clammy, saying, "My 
good fellow, you cannot live twenty-four hours." 
He looked up pathetically and asked, "Did the doc- 
tor say that?" "He did; this is your last day." 
He gazed straight at me for half a minute, and 
said, " I suppose, then, I ought to be getting ready to 

go." 

Sin is one of those diseases, so insidious and de- 
ceptive that people will scarcely allow that they have 
it. The trouble is, that while our first impressions 
of guilt are deep enough, we harden our con- 
sciences against them, as a blacksmith hardens his 
arm amid the flying sparks of the forge, until we 
cease to feel them. We grow " immune," as physi- 
cians say. In Paris a year ago I saw the funeral 
of Pasteur moving through the city with great 
pomp and circumstance. He was buried with all the 
honors that the French people could lavish upon a 
distinguished citizen, because he had discovered 
the process of inoculation against certain sorts of 
diseases. But the honor was not Pasteur's. The 



II. — IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. I 75 

snake charmers of India knew how to make them- 
selves "immune " by inoculation long before Pasteur 
discovered it. The men who handle cobras are not 
afraid of the virus, because they have gradually inoc- 
ulated themselves with the virus until the striking of a 
serpent's fang — which would be fatal to an ordinary 
man in six hours — is no more dangerous than an in- 
sect's sting. 

The time was when you were sensitive to every 
appeal of the Gospel. If you were called upon to 
stand at the foot of Mount Sinai, under the lightnings 
and thunders of divine justice, you shook and trembled 
like an aspen. When you were urged to repent and 
to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you said in your 
heart, *' I will, but not now. It is the right thing to doj 
I will only wait for a more convenient season." When 
you were exhorted to abandon certain of your darling 
sins, and you knew very well what those darling sins 
were, you said, " I will, but not just yet." Now you 
have grown immune. Sin dulls the conscience, pol- 
lutes the reason, makes null and void the power of 
the moral sense and delivers a man over uncon- 
sciously to spiritual death. The gospel phrase is, 
"dead in trespasses and sins." It may be that one of 
you, looking at me with two bright eyes this moment, 
is "dead in trespasses and sins." What is death? If 
I bend over a lifeless body and lift the eyelids, there is 
no responsive light. If I call for the sweetest music 
that ever was sung, there is no token of appreciation 
there. If I sear the white flesh, it will not shrink. 
That is death ! A man may move about his ordinary 
occupations while his soul is dead. Dead men walk 
along our streets. Dead men are busy on the Stock 
Exchange. Dead men and women go about their 



176 II. — IX THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 

common tasks, laughing and making merry; their 
souls as dead as if their grave were marked " Hie 
jacet." Their spiritual natures make no response to 
the great verities, God, Immortality, Judgment, Hell, 
Heaven. This is death. 

But the man of Bethesda knew what ailed him. 
He looked with self-pity on his poor, shriveled limbs. 
He heard the footfall of those who passed by outside 
the porches, the romping children as they ran past, 
and said, "0, if I had but their strength, paralytic 
that I am ! " 

Then, secondly, he wanted to be well. O, if he 
might only be made whole. There was energy, if no- 
where else, in his despair. There comes a time in 
similar cases when longing ends, but it was not so 
here. No doubt in these porches he and his fellow- 
sufferers spoke oftentimes of the moving of the water. 
He looked for the time when perhaps he would be 
enabled to receive its benefits, but it came not. 
Nevertheless he hoped against hope. I like the pluck, 
the courage, of this poor sufferer ; after thirty-eight 
years of hope deferred he was still lying there, waiting 
to be healed of his infirmity. 

Now and again some man who is burdened with 
the cares and troubles of life takes the short cut out 
of it — hangs himself to a rafter, or drowns himself in 
the river. The charitable version of suicide is, that 
the man went daft before he did it. The only altern- 
ative is to pronounce him a coward. The meanest 
man that lives is he who runs from the struggle of 
life, and perhaps leaves a wife and children behind to 
bear the strife and burden after he, with despicable 
cowardice, has fled from it 

This man lay in the porches and heard of the 



II. IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 177 

Wonder Worker who was going about healing desper- 
ate cases. He wist not who he was; but doubtless he 
heard them speaking of him. One said : "There was 
a nobleman in Capernaum who came to this new 
Prophet pleading that his son was in the very throes 
of death — would he come and heal him ? and the 
Prophet spoke the word, and his son was made whole." 
Another said: "Yes ; and there was a leper standing 
afar off as he journeyed, with his finger on his lip, 
crying, * Unclean ! Unclean ! ' — and they say that this 
Prophet spake the word, * Be clean ! ' and the flesh of 
the incurable leper came to him like the flesh of a 
little child." And another of those sufferers said: " I 
hear that there was a man possessed of an unclean 
spirit, who came into the synagogue one day when 
the Prophet was there, and uttered lamentable cries, 
and the Prophet said to him, * Come out, thou unclean 
spirit ! ' and a moment later the man, in his right 
mind, lay sobbing before his feet." Another said : "Up 
in Capernaum a few days ago there was a paralytic 
carried on a mattress to the place where this Prophet 
was preaching, and four of his friends bore him upon 
the roof, and let him down at the feet of the great 
Teacher and Wonder Worker ; and he, seeing the 
man lying helpless and incurable, said to him, 'Take 
up thy bed and walk ! ' and as the man arose he added, 
*Thy sins be forgiven thee.'" Such rumors as these 
the man at Bethesda heard; and doubtless he said in 
his heart: " If he would but come ! Thirty and eight 
years have I suffered; thirty and eight years have I 
lain helpless and hopeless. O, if this healer of des- 
perate cases would but come this way ! " 

A third thing in his favor is that he had a will to be 
healed. He knew his condition, he longed to be better; 



178 II. — IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 

and when the important moment came, he willed for 
it. The word of the Master, who walked through 
Belhesda that day, " Wiliest thou to be made whole ? " 
inspired him with confidence. He did not know 
Jesus by name, but it may be there was something in 
the face of this visitor that led him to surmise. Then 
at the word of encouragement his will rose up and 
pleaded for healing. He willed. His will reached 
forth, like a stretched out hand, to grasp the proffered 
gift. So must yours, if you ever enter into life. If you 
are ever saved, it is because you meet Jesus half 
way ; it is because your sovereign will, made like the 
will of your Father, with power to refuse or to accept 
his eternal grace, shall go out to accept it. 

A man strangling in the river sees a rainbow. He 
remembers that the rainbow is the bow of promise, the 
token of the covenant of God. He remembers how it 
was said, *'I do set my bow in the heavens as a sign 
that the earth shall no more be overwhelmed with a 
flood." But that does not help him. What he wants 
is a rainbow of his own. What he wants is to get 
hold of that rainbow, so as to be upheld by it. What 
he wants is to be brought into personal contact with 
that covenant, or it will never help him. The Cross 
saves no man. There is more blood in the fountain 
that was opened for uncleanness at Calvary than there 
is water in all the oceans ; but there is not blood 
enough to save a man who will not wash and be 
cleansed in it. 

Next, observe that this man obeyed the injunction of 
the Lord immediately . When Jesus said, " Arise ; take 
up thy bed and walk!" he arose straightway. If ever 
there was a case of infirmity, moral or physical, where 
there seemed good reason to hesitate and argue before 



II. — IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. I 79 

resolving, it was the case of this paralytic ; for he was 
impotent. "'Arise; take up thy bed and walk!' 
What ? Walk with these shriveled limbs that have 
not served me for thirty-eight years ? Take up my bed 
with these arms that have lain so long numb and 
helpless beside me ! Does this man mock me ? " 

Our fathers used to talk about " inability." Moral 
inability in consequence of sin is just as real as the 
impotency of that paralytic. The will is palsied. 
Mind, conscience and heart are palsied. Now, are 
you going to wait and question, and deliberate, and 
argue that subtle doctrine, while the Master stands 
by, saying, "Repent! believe! be baptized, and enter 
into life"? The power was given to the paralytic in 
the act of obedience. The power will be given to you 
in the same way. God works within you, and God 
helps those who help themselves straightway. Re- 
pent ! — that is his word. You and I are sinners. 
Let us be frank with ourselves and him. Be- 
lieve ! — that is, stretch forth your hand. The will is 
the hand of the heart reached forth to take the gift of 
God. Be baptized ! — that is to say, as an honest and 
grateful man, having accepted Christ, prove your sin- 
cerity by making an open confession of your loyalty 
to him. 

One thing more about this paralytic : he followed 
Christ. As he left Bethesda, carrying his bed, the 
Pharisees met him. They said, "It is the Sabbath ; 
it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed." He was in 
no mood to discuss an abstruse question in ethics or 
theology just then. His answer was : " He that made 
me whole said to me, 'Take up thy bed and walk. 
That is enough for me. He has put me under an 
eternal obligation. The word of the Man who made 



l8o II, — IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 

me whole is my court of last appeal." So is it for 
every Christian man. No church, no manifesto of any 
ecclesiastical judicatory can stand between a shriven 
and redeemed soul and the Master who said, "Arise; 
take up thy bed and walk — walk in the way of my 
commandments — walk on till thou pass through 
heaven's gate ! " 

A Uttle later this happy man met Jesus — for this 
was during the Purim feast, when all the people were 
dividing portions in gratitude, and giving remem- 
brances to friends, as we do at Christmas-tide — 
and Jesus gave him a Purim gift. He said, " Go, and 
sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee ! " 
And he never spoke a better word than that to a re- 
deemed soul. All the glory of Christian growth and 
character is in that word, " Go, and sin no more ! " 
And the man went, telling about Christ, telling every- 
where that it was Jesus of Nazareth, the great Prophet 
and "Wonder Worker, who had healed him. 

Is there an unshriven man or woman here ? Is 
there one who has not accepted Christ ? Is there one 
who has felt that his case, protracted through many 
years, and grown into a sort of moral indifference and 
stupidity, is almost beyond cure ? Let me commend 
to you the case of the paralytic of Bethesda, and beg 
you, in this blessed hour, to meet the Master's over- 
ture of mercy as he met it. 

In a fishing town on the southern coast of France, 
there was a great iron chain, fastened on the beach, 
and stretching out to an anchor in the bay. The skip- 
per of a little fishing boat, while hurrying along the 
shore, accidentally stepped through one of the links. 
It seem.ed a small matter; but all efforts to extricate 
his foot were vain. The more he struggled, the worse 



II. — IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. l8l 

his plight became. The foot was now chafed and 
swollen. He said to a .comrade, " Go to the nearest 
village and bring the smith to saw this chain, for the 
tide is coming in." The smith was three miles away, 
and before he came the tide was at the skipper's feet. 
Then he said, ** Bring a surgeon, I must lose my foot 
or my life. And make haste ; the tide is coming in." 
But the surgeon was miles away, and the waters crept 
up, and were cold at his loins, at his waist, at his 
throat. It was too late for smith or surgeon. The 
minister of the little village came and offered a 
prayer, while death in the white foam kissed the man's 
lips. Nothing could be done for him. 

We speak of desperate cases. There is not a foot- 
fast sinner whom Jesus cannot save. He is smith, 
surgeon and minister in one. He is able to save unto 
the uttermost all who will come unto him. There is 
no conceivable reason, except in the stubbornness 
and inactivity of our wills, why any man or woman 
should pass through those doors unsaved to-night. 
Some of you have grown gray in sin. Like the 
paralytic, you have waited, lo! these many years for 
healing. Here is the Great Physician, walking in the 
porches. Will you accept him? The reaching forth 
of the will, an immediate response to the Master's 
word, "Repent, believe and be baptized," will save 
you. 

He spoke a word of immediate salvation to the 
woman who pressed upon him in the crowd, saying, 
*' If I may but touch the hem of his garment, I shall 
be made whole; " and when she touched him she felt 
the warm currents of health flowing fast through her 
veins. Then Jesus turned and said, *' Daughter, thy 
faith hath saved thee." 



Io2 II, IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA. 

In like manner he spoke to the Magdalen who had 
spent her life in sin, but repented at last, breaking 
the alabaster box of precious ointment upon his feet: 
''Daughter, go in peace; thy faith hath saved thee." 

Such a word of mercy he spoke to the blind man 
of Jericho, who cried as the Master was entering into 
the village, "Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy 
upon me." And Jesus said, " What wilt thou ?" " O, 
that I might receive my sight! " *' Receive thy sight; 
thy faith hath saved thee." Faith saves! "He that 
believeth shall be saved." " Believe in the Lord 
Jesus Christ." Only believe! 



WANTED: A NEWSPAPER.* 

" And he sent letters by posts."— Esther 8, lo. 

The progress of the centuries is seen in all the en- 
larged and improved activities of the race ; but in 
nothing more conspicuously than the better facilities 
for disseminating news. 

In early times the herald went about with his pack 
of tidings from hamlet to hamlet. The herald, the 
pursuivant and the courier, were the Mercuries of 
those days. 

In the court-yard of Shushan is gathered a com- 
pany of footmen stripped to the waist and girt about 
the loins, and of horsemen ready to mount at the 
signal. A royal proclamation giving immunity to 
the Jews who had been previously doomed to death, 
has been signed and sealed by Ahasuerus and must 

* At a union meeting of ministers of the six leading evangel- 
ical denominations of New York City, on December 7th, 1896, a 
committee was appointed to consider the relation of ministers 
and Christian people to the newspaper press. The committee 
was thus constituted : Rev. J. M. Buckley, D.D., Rev. Wesley 
Johnson, D.D , Rev. J. B. Remensnyder, D.D., Rev. Robert S. 
MacArthur. D.D., Rev. William T. Sabine, D.D , Rev. John 
Hall, D D., Rev. David James Burrell, D.D. The report of 
this committee was heard at a similar meeting on January 
25th. The recommendations were as follows : 

" First — That, whatever the sentiments of publishers and 
editors, religion should be treated by the press as a factor of 
prime importance in the life of the country, should be men- 

(183) 



184 WANTED : A NEWSPAPER. 

be carried with all haste to the utmost borders of his 
realms. Yonder through the gates they pass. Speed 
ye ! Rest not night nor day ! The lives of a nation 
depend upon your faithfulness. 

The herald was in process of time succeeded by the 
"post," so-called ixova positus; a reference to the fact 
that relays were placed at intervals that the riders 
might be expedited on their way. Hence the nomen- 
clature of our present postal system. The messenger 
was a "postman," the station was the " post-office " 
and the superintendent in charge was a " postmaster " 
whose business was to receive packets and provide 
horses for a continuance of the journey. The man 
who stood by the gate of Jerusalem to receive the 
tidings of the battle of the Wood of Ephraim was to 
all intents a postmaster ; and Ahimaaz and Cushi, 
whom he saw approaching with all haste, were 
postmen. 

But many things have happened since those days. 
It could not be that the herald and the post should 
outlive Lawrence Coster, Watt and his tea-kettle, 
Franklin and his kite. " The old order changeth." 
Out of the logic and necessity of events has come the 



tioned respectfully, and that the reports of religious enter- 
prises, special services, and local progress should be made as 
full as their significance properly demands. 

" Second — We regard Sunday newspapers as tending to 
break down the distinction between Sunday and other days ; 
impairing the spirit of devotion : often superseding the family 
reunions at the altar of prayer ; consuming the time necessary 
to prepare for the house of God, and pre-occupying the minds 
of those who attend, so as to render them impervious to spir- 
itual influences. 

" Third — We appeal to the people of the churches to con- 
sider prayerfully their responsibility in these premises. They 
can, by combining, exert an irresistible influence upon the char- 
acter of the secular press. 

" Fourth — We urge upon them the importance of patroniz- 



WANTED : A NEWSPAPER. 185 

newspaper. Its evolution from the past, is indicated 
in such titles as " The Post," '' The Herald," ** The 
Courier," " The Messenger " and " The Mercury." It 
was regarded as a marvellous thing that the Emperor 
Dionysius was enabled as he sat in his throne room 
to hear through a system of brazen pipes the gossip 
of his entire palace. In our time it is the privilege 
of every man to sit thus at an electric focus and listen 
to the story of events transpiring at the uttermost 
parts of the earth. 

It is not uncommon to see a contrast drawn be- 
tween the power of the Pulpit and that of the Press. 
In point of fact, however, there is no ground of com- 
parison, for the following reasons : 

First : The Church is of divine ordinance ; in it 
God has promised to manifest his personality and 
power in a peculiar manner. Of all the lights that 
shone in old Jerusalem — sunlight, moonlight, star- 
light, and the shining of innumerable lamps in happy 
homes — there was none to be compared for a mo- 
ment with the glory that was seen between the wings 
of the cherubim above the golden cover of the ark. 
This was the Shechinah from which God had prom- 



ing only such newspapers as manifestly aim to be clean and 
wholesome, and such as support the principles which subserve 
the highest welfare of the community. 

" Fifth — We suggest that if any one of the leading news- 
papers should withdraw its Sunday edition, it should have such 
immediate and general support as will unmistakably manifest 
the moral sentiment of the community. 

" Finally, in the name of our common country, in the name 
of humanity, in the name of the homes of the land, and in the 
name of religion, we appeal to the press of the city to use the 
great powers in its hands to help men to do right, and to make 
it hard for men to do wrong, and not to lower the moral tone 
and degrade the life of the homes that, because of its merits, 
admit its issues, by inserting in its columns matter of a kind 
that, judged by any candid standard, can only exploit vice." 



l86 WANTED : A NEWSPAPER. 

ised to show himself and commune with his people. 
It was the " pillar of cloud by day and of fire by 
night." 

Second : The function of the Pulpit is to declare the 
saving power of the gospel of Christ. We have nothing 
to do with secular truth as such. All truth is impor- 
tant ; in science, in philosophy, in art. But the truth 
with which men are vitally concerned is that which 
points the way to the endless life. If a man has 
fallen into an abyss, he may be greatly interested in 
what his neighbors, leaning over the edge, shall say 
about the weather and the gossip of the town, but a 
rope let down for his deliverance will be of incom- 
parably more importance to him. 

Third : The Church is a living organism through 
which the divine energy is being applied to the ulti- 
mate regeneration of the race. Its symbol is in the vi- 
sion of Ezekiel : — the appearance of wheels ; wheels 
within wheels ; a living engine of power pervaded by 
a divine spirit, so that ''whithersoever the Spirit was to 
go, the wheels went, for the Spirit was in them." Here 
is the great propaganda. Here is a foregleam of the 
Master's word, " Go ye, into all the world and evan- 
gelize." By the foolishness of preaching the nations of 
the earth are to be brought to the knowledge of Christ ; 
that so the whole round world may every way be 
"bound, as with gold chains, about the feet of 
God." 

But while we thus magnify the power of the 
Christian pulpit — which, by reason of the omnipotent 
God who ordained it, has more strength in its little 
finger than any secular institution has in its loins — 
we may not depreciate the magnificent power of the 
press. Of all secular energies it stands easily first. 



WANTED : A NEWSPAPER. 187 

So much has been said upon this point, however, in 
the columns of the newspapers themselves, that it will 
not be necessary here to emphasize it. 

It is a pleasure to pay tribute to the magnificent 
service rendered by the New York Times in the over- 
throw of the Tweed regime. It seized upon that 
great evil power as a man grasps a serpent by the 
neck and strangles it. So Theseus set forth under 
black sails to slay the Minotaur; he followed the 
monster through the intricate windings of the Cretan 
labyrinth until he accomplished his purpose, and won 
the acclamations of his people. That was in legend; 
but the strangling of this monster of municipal cor- 
ruption is matter of history. Honor to whom honor 
is due. 

The New Yoj-k Tribune some years ago placed the 
church under obligation by giving an extended 
report of the transactions of the Evangelical Alliance, 
which held its international convention in this city. 
It was a verbatim report ; column after column, page 
after page ; a triumph of stenography and the 
printer's art. The churches have not forgotten it, 
nor will they. 

Aye, the press is a great power, for good, or for 
evil. This is the sorrow of it. One of the newspa- 
pers just mentioned for noble service done in the 
interest of truth and righteousness, showed an equal 
spirit of enterprise in publishing the most notorious 
divorce case that has ever occurred in our an- 
nals. Day after day it sent the reports of that case 
into Christian homes. The details were as vile and 
hateful as the plague of frogs that came up into the 
bedchambers and kneading-troughs of Egypt. It is 
impossible to calculate the far reaching influence of 



lOO WANTED : A NEWSPAPER. 

that record of shame. The press is, indeed, a tre- 
mendous power, an incalculable power — for good or 
evil. Its influence is like that of wealth, of which 
Hood wrote : 

Gold ! gold ! gold ! gold ! 
Good or bad a thousand-fold ; 

How widely its agencies vary, — 
To save, to ruin, to curse, to bless^ 
As even its minted coins express. 
Now stamped with the image of good Queen BesSy 
And now of a Bloody Mary. 

One of the weighty sayings of John Foster was 
this: "Power to the last atom is responsibility." 
Our friends of the newspapers will not be able to 
escape responsibility by saying that the press is 
merely a colorless reflection of public sentiment. 
The question is not to be determined merely by the 
law of demand and supply. We regulate the trade 
in the common commodities of life; we do not allow 
the sale of watered milk, or poisoned beer, or un- 
marked oleomargarine. Men and women want opium 
and arsenic, but they are not permitted to purchase 
them at will. There are some things which cannot 
be left to the law of supply and demand, but which 
must be determined under a higher law; to wit, the 
public good. Salus poptili supre?na lex. It is to be 
hoped, moreover, that newspaper men themselves do 
not take this view of their vocation. Are they con- 
tent with the parrot-like function of echoing the 
public mind ? Nay, rather, they make public opinion 
— they create sentiment. On this ground only can the 
press claim to be a great public educator; but upon 
this ground it must also meet the other tremendous 



WANTED : A NEWSPAPER. 189 

fact that responsibility is ultimately bound to face 
the judgment bar of God. 

It is not my purpose here, however, to dwell on 
^he moral obligations of the editorial fraternity. I 
wish particularly to emphasize the duty of Christian 
people with respect to the press. Much is being said 
just now as to " the Ideal Newspaper." An impression 
is given that Christian ministers are calling for that. 
Let us not be side-tracked in this way. The "ideal" 
is that which we have not and are not likely to 
get. We are not trying to reach the unattainable. 
We are not mjiking unreasonable demands. We 
simply ask that Christian people may have a news- 
paper which they can read with impunity and safely 
introduce into their homes. Is that too much ? There 
are hundreds of thousands of Christian people in 
this city. They belong to the reading class. Their 
relation to the press is purely voluntary. They can- 
not lay hands on the editor and require him to honor 
God. They cannot stop the wheels of the presses; 
but they are numerous enough to get what they de- 
sire, if they rightly set about it. 

I. We want a newspaper that shall be abreast of the 
times. It must publish the news. Christians above 
all are interested in current events. To them history 
is the massing and combining of energies in the in- 
terest of the kingdom of Christ. Events are the 
rumbling of his chariot wheels. We are interested 
in the Arbitration Treaty because of its bearing on 
the coming of Christ. We want to know about the 
Nicaragua Canal because it must be a thoroughfare 
for the propagation of the gospel. We are pro- 
foundly concerned in the suppression of the Arme- 
nian persecution and m the overthrow of Islam; in the 



ipo WANTED : A NEWSPAPER. 

development of Japan; in the opening up of the dark 
continent; in the Tripartite Alliance and the Eastern 
question, because these events are marks of Christian 
progress. We must keep track of legislation in our 
national congress and in our various commonwealths, 
of municipal reform and of quick local transit, be- 
cause they all have a more or less important bearing 
upon the great ultimate event. We must have the 
news. Wherefore " prithee," good editor, as Shakes- 
peare says, " take the cork out of thy mouth that we 
may drink thy tidings." 

II. Our newspaper must be truthful ^ clean and whole- 
some. 

It must tell the truth. Time was when the busi- 
ness of lying was sensational; but it has been done 
to death. The white lie and the black lie, cant, 
humbug, exaggeration, mealy-mouthed pretence, un- 
derstatement, overstatement and polite misrepresen- 
tation, all have been worn to the marrow of the bone. 
Hence the proverb that "If you see it in the news- 
paper, it's not so." The reading public want the 
truth — plain, unvarnished truth. This would be in 
the nature of a novelty; but the other is flat, stale 
and unprofitable. 

As matters are, no character is safe. Though a 
man or woman be chaste as ice, pure as snow, he 
shall not escape calumny. Let him pray the hyena 
to deliver him from the .sensational reporter. 

Who said that a man's house is his castle ? The 
youth who covets promotion on the reportorial staff 
on some of our great newspapers must pass through 
an apprenticeship of prurient exploration, casting 
about for skeletons in closets, prying into confi- 
dences, pumping at domestic cesspools, and measur- 



WANTED : A NEWSPAPER. I9I 

ing success by the number of reputations he ruins. 
Not all are so; but there are more than enough to 
warrant plain words. These are a generation of 
Peeping Toms, who glory in their shame. 

And if by mischance a man is in public life, let 
him ask and expect no mercy. The Philistines — the 
breath of whose nostrils is falsehood and the light of 
whose eyes is misrepresentation — are always upon 
him. It would appear that citizens in public life are 
as much entitled to fair treatment as any other. 
They may as reasonably claim the benefit of the 
Ninth Commandment and the Golden Rule. But 
the vials of vituperation are so lavished upon them 
that politics itself becomes a stench. The people 
say: "There must be fire where there is so much 
smoke" — forgetting that it is the business of certain 
newspapers to make smoke without fire; and honest 
men, fitted to lead in public affairs, loth to expose 
themselves, suffer the government to go by default 
into the hands of lewd fellows of the baser sort. 

But there are newspapers and newspapers, and 
"we must discriminate." Granted. Nevertheless, 
the best is a sinner; and the fact remains that any- 
thing which is not actionable in law passes as truth 
in the usual politics of the press. 

The newspaper for Christian people and Christian 
homes must also be clean and wholesome. When 
Charles Dickens returned from his visit to America, 
he took occasion to speak in his American Notes of 
the shameless character of some of our newspapers. 
He represented the newsboys calling, " Here is your 
New York Sewer ! " and " Here is your Key-hole 
Reporter ! " The American people were, at the time, 
indignant beyond expression. Since then, however, 



192 WANTED : A NEWSPAPER. 

the public taste has been greatly depraved, and lo, 
the New York Sewer and the Key-hole Reporter are 
here. It is not necessary to give them their proper 
names. One of them was apparently anticipated by 
Shakespeare when he wrote : 

Her tongue 
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile ; her breath 
Rides on the posting winds, and doth belie kings, queens, 
Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave. 

And Spenser was manifestly thinking of the other 
when he wrote : 

Her face was ugly and her mouth distort, 
Foaming with poison round about her gills, 

In which her censed tongue, full short and sharp 
Appear'd like asp his sting, that closely kills 
Or cruelly does wound whomso she wills. 

These are not newspapers ; they are scavengers. 
And the others are not blameless. Is there one that 
can consistently say, ''We print all and only the news 
that is fit to read " ? The smell of the clothes-hamper 
is more or less delicately over them all. We have 
supped full on gossip ! We are weary unto death of 
the co-respondent. Why should we be obliged to 
walk through the columns of the newspaper, rather 
than anywhere else, arm in arm with men of the 
town and their concubines ? Why must we breathe 
the odors of garbage and coagulated blood ? Is it 
the function of "the great public educator" thus to 
pollute the air? Must it needs pander to the lowest 
and basest ? 

An American, resident for many years in Paris, 
recently said to me : " I am amazed that you permit 



WANTED : A NEWSPAPER. I93 

such personal scandals. The worst of our Parisian 
papers, in comparison, shines like a good deed in a 
naughty world ! We do not profess a Christian 
civilization in France; neither do we allow such li- 
cense of the press." 

III. The newspaper we want should be non-religious. 
We do not ask a religious paper, nor do we expect it. 
We may reasonably ask, however, that the papers to 
which we give our voluntary patronage, should treat 
with ordinary respect the great truths which lie close 
to the centre of our hearts. God and the Scriptures, 
the atonement of Christ, the influence of the Holy 
Ghost, revivals, home and foreign missions, these are 
as our very blood and the marrow of our bones. In 
self-respect we are bound to insist on a courteous 
attitude toward them. If a newspaper were to im- 
pugn the fair name of my mother, would I compla- 
cently suffer it ? But Christ and his religion are 
dearer than any earthly relationship. If we admit 
that our newspaper need not be religious, we demand, 
without any equivocation, that it shall not be anti- 
religious. It must not in any wise oppose the gospel 
which is so dear to us. 

In this view it would appear that the newspaper 
which shall commend itself to Christians shall honor 
the Moral Law. The Fourth Commandment is part 
and parcel of that law. There is not a morning 
newspaper in New York City which does not habit- 
ually, flagrantly, defiantly violate the Sabbath. It is 
not my purpose to speak just now of the Sunday 
newspaper at any length ; it will suffice to say that it 
stands as the head and front of the whole offending 
in the matter of current and increasing Sabbath dese- 
cration. We are asked by newspaper men to lend 



194 WANTED : A NEWSPAPER. 

them our influence to make the Sunday newspaper a 
cleaner, better sheet. But they overlook the fact that 
our objection is made not to the character of the 
Sunday newspaper, though that is bad enough at the 
best, but to the institution per se. It is not possible 
to publish seven issues of a secular newspaper with- 
out seven days of continuous work. Nor can any 
secular newspaper be published on the Sabbath 
which shall not by the introduction of secular news 
antagonize the fundamental principle of Sabbath 
rest. It secularizes our holy day. But while we thus 
strenuously object to the Sunday newspaper, weare, 
under present conditions, forced to h^ particeps cri??ii- 
7US. We are obliged to take six issues of a morning 
newspaper, which has a Sunday edition, or fall behind 
the times. 

What shall we do ? No proposition has been 
made to start a new paper; but stranger things have 
happened. All enterprises have a beginning. If a 
millionaire can come across the continent to New 
York City and invest his money in a newspaper with 
an apparent purpose of making it a great power for 
evil, is it preposterous to suppose that the heart of 
some Christian millionaire, who holds his money in 
trust for God, shall be moved on occasion to make a 
corresponding investment in the interest of truth and 
righteousness ? But a more immediate possibility is 
that one of our present newspapers may withdraw its 
Sabbath issue in deference to the sentiment of a 
multitude of people who reverence the Lord's Day. 
Should that occur, it would be the manifest duty of 
Christian people, other things being equal, to lend 
their united support. It is a good rule to honor 
those who honor God. If the women of the Chris- 



WANTED : A NEWSPAPER. I95 

tian churches would take cognizance of those mer- 
chants who do not advertise in the Sunday press and 
give them preference in their patronage, that would 
be an argument of great weight. And Christian 
people would accomplish a great deal if they would 
support such enterprises as manifest a desire to 
honor the fundamental precepts of morality and so 
subserve the public weal. 

(i) It should be the part of every Christian to 
attend to his individual duty. Let him do right pre- 
cisely as if he were the only living man. " One with 
God is a majority." To assume that, because the news- 
papers have "come to stay," we had better accept 
the situation, is to reason without regard to the first 
principles of Christian ethics. " Ye are the salt of 
the earth, but if the salt have lost its savour, it is 
thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and 
trodden under the foot of men." 

If every one would look to his own reformation, 
How easy it would be to reform the nation. 

(2) Let us unite and act. ''^ Eendracht Maakt 
Machty If I throw a thousand pounds of iron fil- 
ings into the air, they will descend as gently as snow 
flakes ; but if I weld them into a cannon ball, back it 
with a charge of powder, and fire it from a colum- 
biad, I can sink a manof-war with it. The people of 
the churches have illimitable power, if they choose to 
use it. So long as we are willing to patronize the 
newspapers as they are, we shall get nothing better. 
The sentiment of right-thinking people should make 
itself heard and felt. Almost any suggestion is better 



196 WANTED : A NEWSPAPER. 

than none. Let us purge our consciences. We are 
strong enough to have our way in New York City ; 
and New York pitches the tune for the other cities of 
the land. Let us unite and act! "We must hang 
together," said John Hancock, in the Continental 
Congress. "Aye," responded a voice, "or we shall 
hang apart." Wherefore, let those who are like- 
minded in this matter unite and act. 



The flighty purpose never is o'ertook 
Unless the deed go with it. 



FISHERS OF MEN. 

" Fear not ; from henceforth thou shalt catch men."— Luke v. lo. 

The scene is in the early morning by the Lake 
Gennesaret. The breath of the diurnal resurrection 
is over all. Far to the east the glory of the sunrise 
is on the hills of Bashan. The waters of the lake 
ripple and sparkle in the early breeze. You may see 
yonder through the garden mist Tiberias and Mag- 
dala. A fleet of fishing boats swings at anchor here 
in the bay ; some are fastened to the shore. In one 
of these the old fisherman Zebedee and his sons are 
mending their nets. In the boats some are wash- 
ing their nets ; others on the beach are stretching 
their nets in the sun. 

It was upon such a scene and under such circum- 
stances that Jesus appeared. Early as it was, he was 
followed by a considerable company who desired to 
hear him discourse on the truths of the endless life. 
The little boat swinging by the shore afforded him a 
suitable pulpit. A blessed matin service that ! And 
when the service was over, and the congregation dis- 
missed, he turned to the fishermen and said, "Launch 
out into the deep and let down your nets for a 
draught." The reply of Peter savored of disappoint- 
ment and weariness, of loyalty and faith : ** Master, 

(197) 



198 FISHERS OF MEN. 

we have toiled all night and taken nothing; neverthe- 
less at thy word I will let down the net." It was done; 
and behold ''they inclosed a great multitude of fishes, 
and their net was breaking." And they were aston- 
ished, Peter above all. But Jesus said to him " Fear 
not ; from henceforth thou shalt catch men." 

We cannot regard this as a mere episode in the 
common-place life of a few fishermen. It was a 
great event and the opening chapter of the story of a 
vast enterprise. 

I. We see behind this group on the shore of Gen- 
nesaret the outline of the unii'ersal Church of God. For 
what is the Church indeed but a guild of fishermen? 
Up and down the centuries the little boat has cruised, 
now over calm and prosperous seas, and anon beaten 
by contrary winds ; but always under the divine pro- 
tection — the prayerful crew letting down the nets 
here and there, taking sometimes a waterhaul and 
mourning, "Alas ! hath God forgotten to be gra- 
cious?" at other times letting down the net on 
the right side of the ship, with the Master stand- 
ing by, and blessing God for a multitude of great 
fishes. And so will it be year after year, the 
toilers an increasing company, the songs of success 
waxing louder and more joyous, until all the souls of 
the children of men shall be made prisoners of hope 
and the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the 
waters cover the sea. 

The early Christians made more of the symbol of 
the fish than we do. In the story "Quo Vadis," a 
young Roman tribune makes an unseemly address to 
a Lygian slave girl, and is puzzled by her reply ; for 
with a reed she draws in the dust an outline of a fish. 
The young tribune learned later that she meant by 



FISHERS OF MEN. I99 

this sign that she was a follower of the Lord Christ. 
The symbol gets its significance from the word 
IchthuSy a fish ; the letters of which form the initials 
of lesous Christos Theou Huios Soter, that is, Jesus 
Christ, Son of God, Saviour. The symbol may still 
be seen in the catacombs, for it was used to dis- 
guise the sepulchres of Christians to prevent the dese- 
cration of their sleeping dust. 

It suggests our personal "call " to the service of 
Christ, Here is Peter, a great soul if ever there was 
one, endowed with magnificent gifts and possibilities 
of usefulness. He is part owner of a little sloop ; he 
cruises up and down Gennesaret for fish, carries 
them to the market-place at Capernaum, and chaffers 
there with housewives for a few paltry pence. It is 
an honorable calling, for 

Who sweeps a room as to God's law- 
Makes that and th' action fine. 

All honest toil is honorable. But is the making of a 
livelihood, a competence or a fortune, the consumma- 
tion of life's purpose ? Is this the best that Peter 
shall hope for ? Early to bed, and early to rise, and 
down to the boats, and battling with the winds and 
waves, day in and day out, until the years are gone, 
and the limbs tremble, and the eyes are dim, and the 
hands are folded — O Peter, with thy mighty soul ! is 
this all? And is life worth the living if this is all ? 

Here is John ; his great eyes are full of dreams 
and visions and apocalypses; the hiding of power is 
there. He busies himself with dragging the nets, 
mending their meshes, hanging them in the sun. Is 
there no larger place for John in the busy world than 
yon little fishing boat 1 Shall all his energies be ex- 



200 FISHERS OF MEN. 

hausted in the reefing of sails and the dragging of 
nets ? Alas for a man whose soul is imprisoned in 
secular life ! Alas for the lawyer who never gets 
above his briefs, the physician who knows no more 
than "laudamy and calamy," the carpenter who is 
satisfied with the shoving of his saw and plane, the 
housewife whose soul is absorbed in her needlework ! 
We are made in God's likeness. Shall the eagle be 
tethered to a stake ? Shall a lion be harnessed to a 
cart ? An honest lark-pie is worth a shilling, but a 
lark's song — as he rises from the meadow with the 
dew of the morning on his wings and pierces the 
ether and gazes toward the sun — O, a lark's song 
cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir. Sursum 
corda! Up with your heart, O son of the living God ! 
Make your secular business as honorable as you 
please ; yet your life will be a failure if it exhausts 
itself upon that. 

But the Master comes this way. " Follow me," is 
his word, " and I will make you fishers of men " ; that 
is, " I will not turn you aside from the familiar meth- 
ods of your occupation ; fishers once, fishers ever. 
But ye shall be promoted to a higher sphere ; as 
apostles, missionaries, evangelists, teachers, ye shall 
turn your skill to the betterment of the world." We 
also are in the apostolic succession. The apostles are 
" sent ones "; so are we. For did not the Master say, 
" As the Father sent me into the world, so have I sent 
you " ? For what ? To deliver the world from its 
shame and sin. Blessed calling! The Master speaks. 
Bring all your energies of body and soul to the prop- 
aganda of truth and righteousness. Seek first of all 
the kingdom of God. 

II. Here also is an tmveilmg of the sec7'et of J>ower. 



FISHERS OF MEN. 20I 

The words of Peter are significant: "Master, we 
have toiled all the night ; nevertheless, at thy word I 
will let down the net." The key of the whole matter 
is in that word, "Master." What shall we call him? 
Christ — the Anointed One, of whom all the prophets 
spake ? Jesus — so called because he should save his 
people from their sins ? Aye ; but above all. Lord. 
Our Lord Jesus Christ. "Ye call me Master and 
Lord ; and ye say well, for so I am." 

It is remarkable, when we stop to reflect, that these 
men should have given heed to the Master's words, 
"Launch out into the deep and let down your nets." 
Who is this man, so ready with his counsel? They 
knew all about the business of fishing. They were 
born here at Gennesaret. They had floated their toy 
boats along the edge of the water and fished with 
crooked pins when they were lads. They knew the 
haunts and habits of all the fishes. They knew the 
w^eather signs. They could call the name of every 
wind that blew across the waters. And who is this 
that offers advice ? A carpenter of Nazareth. He 
had served his apprenticeship with saw and plane ; 
he knew how to mend ploughs and furniture ; but 
what did he know about fishing? 

Ah, but he was their Master. That tells the story. 
There was no reservation in their submission to him. 
Their acquaintance with this man was but slight as 
yet ; they had met him at the banks of the Jordan, 
when the prophet of the wilderness said, " Behold 
the Lamb of God ! " But they were ready to accept 
his counsel in things temporal as well as in things 
spiritual. There was no questioning, no hesitation, 
no reserve. We know more of Jesus than they did. 
We have a deeper personal experience of his power 



202 FISHERS OF MEN. 

to save. We have seen him controlling the affairs of 
men and nations, — the commanding figure in the his- 
tory of these nineteen centuries. If John and Peter 
and James could say, " Master, thy word is ultimate," 
how much more should we ! 

His mastery is over every department of life. His 
counsel is for the market-place as well as the sanctu- 
ary. These are troublous times in the business 
world ; men are worrying all day, and passing sleep- 
less nights. Are you, my friend, in financial trouble? 
Go to your Master with it. Is not he the silent part- 
ner in your affairs ? He knows all, is interested in all 
that concerns you. It was for men under such cir- 
cumstances that he spoke this word : " Consider the 
ravens ; for they neither sow nor reap ; which have 
neither storehouse nor barn ; and God feedeth them ; 
how much more are ye better than they?" 

He is Master, also, with reference to the duties of 
the religious life. You are a member of the great 
fellowship ; you have entered into covenant with him 
in the service of the kingdom of God ; you want to 
know what to do. " I am a fisher of men, but where 
shall I cast the net ? " Ask, and he will direct you. 
The beginning of all spiritual usefulness is in the 
word of Paul : " Lord, what wilt thou have me to 
do?" 

If you cannot speak like angels, if you cannot preach like 

Paul, 
You can tell the love of Jesus, you can say he died for all. 
Let none hear you idly saying, There is nothing I can do, 
While the souls of men are waiting, and the Master calls for 

you ; 
Take the task he gives you gladly, let his work your pleasure 

be; 
Answer quickly when he calleth, Here am I, send me, send 

me. 



FISHERS OF MEN. 203 

"And whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." Do it 
at any cost of personal convenience. Do it, however 
his counsel may seem to conflict with your own ideas 
of prudence and propriety. Do it without delay or 
questioning. Do it because he is Master, and his 
word is ultimate. The best offering that a man can 
make to his Lord is absolute obedience. All the 
trophies of wealth and honor that the most distin- 
guished of mortals may bring, cannot supply the lack 
of it. The best of the fatlings, with King Agag in 
bonds, could not prevent the prophet's word, ** To 
obey is better than sacrifice." Therefore, having 
submitted your life to the Master, whatsoever he 
saith unto you, do it. 

III. Here also is the suggestion of the penny at even- 
ing. We toil for wages. Jesus himself was not above 
it, for is it not written, " For the joy that was set be- 
fore him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, 
and is now set down at the right hand of the throne 
of God"? 

We sometimes think of heaven as the reward of 
service ; but this is not so. It is indeed our El Do- 
rado. When Godfrey, having brought his crusaders 
through storms and scorching suns, at length saw in 
the distance the glowing domes of Jerusalem, he 
turned to his men with this exclamation, " Who will 
not strive for such a city ! " But heaven is not to be 
had for striving. Heaven is of grace. The qualifi- 
cations for entering that city are on the one hand 
pardon through the blood, and on the other sanctifi- 
cation by the Spirit. And pardon and sanctification 
are both of grace. 

What then is the reward of service ? Fruitfulness. 
The husbandman is patient in scattering the seed, 



204 FISHERS OF MEN. 

because he sees aforetime the golden fields and hears 
the creaking of the loaded vans. It was a right prayer 
that Moses made: "Let thy work appear unto thy ser- 
vants, and thy glory unto their children. And let 
the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us ; and es- 
tablish thou the work of our hands upon us ; yea, the 
work of our hands establish thou it." 

But alas for the discouraged ones ! How many 
there are who say like these weary fishermen, "We 
have toiled all night and taken nothing." It is the 
cry that goes up from the closets where parents have 
been pleading for the wandering these many years. 
It is the prayer of the missionary who toils alone in 
the regions of darkness and the shadow of death. 
Carey and Morrison, Allen Gardiner and Adoniram 
Judson — they dragged their nets year after year in 
vain. It is not toil that tries the soul of man, but toil 
without fruit. 

What do we need ? Patience ? Yes, truly ; but 
faith above all. Faith is the mother of patience. He 
that believeth, shall not make haste. It was faith 
that said, '"'' Nevertheless — at thy word I will let down 
the net." We can afford to wait, so long as we be- 
lieve. Bide a wee and dinna weary. The kingdom 
of heaven cometh not with observation. The mustard 
seed grows in the night. Toil on and trust God. In 
due time we shall reap, if we faint not. 

At this point we note the astonishment with which 
Peter regarded the great draught of fishes. All were 
astonished, but Peter was overwhelmed. He cast 
himself at Jesus' feet, saying, " Depart from me, for I 
am a sinful man." Should we not rather have ex- 
pected him to clasp his hands in adoring wonder and 
renew his vows of faithful service with great joy ? 



FISHERS OF MEN. 205 

But in that moment he saw that which thrilled 
him through and through. A miracle ! But why- 
should a miracle have amazed him ? We live in the 
midst of marvels. Every throb of our pulse is a 
miracle ; every breath we draw is a miracle. All 
providences are special providences. It is as extra- 
ordinary for God to turn a snowflake from its course, 
as for the sun to stand still on Gibeon. Nothing is 
too hard for him. 

But the wonder of the miracle in the case of Peter 
was its revelation of God. He saw in this Jesus of 
Nazareth an unveiling of the mighty God. At the 
same instant he saw himself a sinner. And between 
him and that Incarnate God a gulf opened that seemed 
vast and bridgeless. A moment later Jesus stretched 
his hand over that separating gulf and drew Peter to- 
ward him, saying, " Fear not." He drew him into 
fellowship, friendship, copartnership with himself, in 
the things of the kingdom of God — " I will make 
thee a fisher of men." 

This was but a prophetic silhouette of Pentecost. 
On that memorable day these fishermen again let 
down their nets, and when they drew them in they 
caught three thousand souls for God. Again they 
were amazed. The lambent flames rested upon their 
brows. The miracle was wrought which is wrought 
again and again in every outpouring of the Spirit of 
God. 

The Master is not far from any one of us. He is 
here as really as he stood with the disciples in the 
little boat that day. " Follow me," is his word, *'and 
I will make you fishers of men." " Go ye, evangelize; 
and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of 



2C6 FISHERS OF MEN. 

the world." "He that goeth forth and weepeth, 
bearing precious seed, shall doubtless, doubtless^ doubt- 
less, come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves 
with him." 



"BEHOLD. THY KING COMETH UNTO 
THEE!"* 

" All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the 
prophet, saying-. Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh 
unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass." 
— Matt. xxi. 4, 5. 

It was a bright spring day in the year 29. The 
city of Jerusalem was crowded with worshippers who 
had come up to the celebration of the Passover from 
every part of Palestine. As they looked toward the 
East, they saw a company of pilgrims rounding the 
spur of Olivet, waving palm branches and crying, 
'' Hosanna to the son of David! " In front rode the 
prophet of Nazareth who was by many believed to be 
the long-looked-for Messiah. A rumor of his ap- 
proach had reached the city, and many, seeing the pro- 
cession coming, set out to meet him. The two streams 
met on the slope of the mountain, and came on 
down toward the Kedron ; those going before and 
those following after joined in the cry, " Hosanna to 
the son of David! Blessed is he that cometh in the 
name of the Lord! " They crossed the ford, ascended 
the opposite road, and passed through the gates and 
along the street, still shouting, waving palm branches, 
and casting their garments before Jesus in the way. 



*This discourse was preached on Palm Sunday, 1897. 
(207) 



20S "behold, thy king COMETH UNTO THEE! " 

There were people looking down from the house- 
tops, others peering through their windows of lattice- 
work, still others looking on from the doorways of 
bazaars. Those who were abroad in the streets 
turned aside to let the strange procession pass. 
"Who is this?" was heard on every side. "This is 
the son of David," they answered. " Hosanna, hosan- 
na, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the 
Lord!" So they proceeded to the Shushan gate of 
the temple and passed in. 

I. Let us observe, to begin with, the imporia7ice of 
the triumphal Advent of Jesus as an isolated fact. This 
was the first Palm Sunday. The hosanna of those 
who led the prophet of Nazareth to the temple was 
the first Christian hymn. What was the meaning 
of it? 

The hour had come for Jesus to declare himself. 
His purpose in making himself one among the chil- 
dren of men was to set up his kingdom of truth and 
righteousness on earth. He was to be its king, and 
was to reign ultimately from the river unto the ends 
of the earth. He had spent thirty years in preparation 
for his work. All this time he had been a king in dis- 
guise. He had grown up from childhood in no wise 
distinguished from the other lads of Nazareth. He 
had served his apprenticeship as a carpenter and had 
shared the common lot of toiling men. It was three 
years now since he had crossed the threshold of the 
carpenter shop, closed its door, and entered upon his 
formal ministry. During that ministry he had worn 
no halo, displayed no insignia of office, but rather 
kept himself under a constant reserve. Now and 
then he spoke briefly of his hopes and purposes, but 
as one who was aware that a precipitate unveiling of 



209 

his divine royalty would thwart his plan. He could 
afford to wait in confidence. " He that believeth 
shall not make haste." 

In the temptation of the wilderness his adversary, 
who was called the " prince of this world," had offered 
him universal dominion in return for a single act of 
homage. He knew, however, that a holy kingdom 
could not come to him in such a manner, and he re- 
fused it. 

By the shore of Gennesaret, after a day of preaching 
and wonder-working, the people put their heads 
together and said, *' He is indeed the son of David 
who will restore the glory to Israel. Why should we 
not lead him to Jerusalem and place him upon the 
throne?" He knew what was passing through their 
minds ; had he been less or lower than himself, he 
would have accepted their homage, for he knew that 
the Jews would hail him with acclamations if he gave 
promise of deliverance from the hated yoke of Rome. 
But again he knew that the kingdom could not come 
in this way. So it is written, *' He departed into a 
mountain himself alone." 

On the Mount of Transfiguration he revealed to 
the chosen disciples a passing glimpse of his glory. 
His face was like the sun, and his garments were 
white and glistering. They would have set up his 
royal establishment then and there, saying, " Let us 
make here three tabernacles ; one for thee, one for 
Moses, and one for Elias." But the glory vanished, 
and he straightly charged them that they should tell 
no man. 

Tell no man ! So did he counsel the leper who was 
healed at the foot of Olivet, the blind man who 
received his sight at Bethsaida, Jairus, whose daugh- 



2IO ''behold, thy king COMETH UNTO THEE! " 

ter was restored from death. So did he enjoin upon 
Peter when he cried, " Thou art the Christ of God ! " 
" See thou tell no man." 

But now the hour has come. There is no longer 
any occasion for withholding the truth concerning 
his personality and his purpose. He will announce 
his Kingship to-day ; yet in a peculiar manner. It 
would be wholly unworthy of him to celebrate a 
triumph like the princes of this world. It is for 
Caesar, Alexander, and the mighty conquerors of Egypt 
and Assyria, to ride on war-horses that prance and 
champ their bits, with noble guards and armies of 
defenders, captives in chains, and long processions of 
slaves. The procession of this King of kings and 
Lord of lords shall be a protest against the vain and 
vulgar fashion of sordid ambition. " Thy king com- 
eth unto thee, meek, and riding upon an ass." So, too, 
the judges of Israel in old times rode about on their 
errands of truth and judgment. This very day, the 
tenth day of the month, marks the bringing in of the 
paschal lamb for the sacrifice. The King Messiah is 
also the Lamb slain from the foundation of the 
world. What a preposterous triumph this would 
have been had Jesus been only a man! How far 
short of the glory of all earthly potentates! But if 
Jesus be the very Son of God, then how unworthy 
would it have been to ape the affectations of the 
mighty of the earth! He comes to die, to triumph 
in death, to triumph over death, to triumph in behalf 
of all the children of men. 

Ride on, ride on in majesty I 

In lowly pomp, ride on to die I 
C Christ, Thy triumphs now begin 

O'er captive death and conquered sin. 



** BEHOLD, THY KING COMETH UNTO THEe! " 211 

Ride on, ride on in majesty ! 

The winged squadron of the sky 
Look down with sad and wondering eyes 

To see the approaching sacrifice. 

Ride on, ride on in majesty ! 

Thy last and fiercest strife is nigh 1 
The Father on His sapphire throne 

Expects His own anointed Son. 

Ride on, ride on in majesty ! 

In lowly pomp, ride on to die ; 

Bow Thy meek head to mortal pain, 
Then take, O God ! Thy power, and reign. 

But let the pageant pass ; of itself it means but 
little. It is a foregleam, a silhouette ; it has a bi- 
frontal eloquence pointing backward into prophecy, 
forward through history, and ever declaring the 
Kingship of Christ. 

II. // points backward to prophecy. " All this was 
done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by 
the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Be- 
hold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting 
upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass." 

Who said this ? The prophet Zechariah, during 
the building of the second temple, when the Syrians 
and Philistines were oppressing the Jews. This 
prophet saw the coming King with clear eyes. He 
spoke of him with the utmost particularity. He bore 
witness five centuries before the event to Christ's 
coming, his suffering, his betrayal, the purchase of 
the potter's field with the thirty pieces of silver, and 
other incidents relating to Christ's passion. It was 
meet that he should also predict his triumph. 

It is not in Zechariah alone, however, that clear 
prophecies of the Messiah are found. They are every- 



212 "behold, thy king COMETH UNTO THEe! " 

where in the Old Testament, running through it like 
a golden thread. The first word of promise that ever 
was spoken, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the 
serpent's head," had reference to him. He was to go 
out as a knight-errant, like St. George against the 
dragon, to deliver the race from sin. He is spoken 
of continually as the seed of David — " Great David's 
Greater Son." To a Jew this meant everything royal 
and magnificent ; for David himself was at the very 
centre of their hearts. What could be more vivid 
than the prediction of Isaiah : " For unto us a child 
is born, unto us a son is given ; and the government 
shall be upon his shoulder ; and his name shall be 
called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The 
everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." 

He is seen on the far heights beyond the Jordan 
approaching the Holy City. "Who is this that com- 
eth from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah ? 
this that is glorious in his apparel ?" — " I that speak 
in righteousness, mighty to save." — " Wherefore art 
thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him 
that treadeth in the winefat ? " — " I have trodden the 
winepress alone ; and of the people there was none 
with me ; and I looked, and there was none to help ; 
and I wondered that there was none to uphold ; 
therefore mine own arm. brought salvation unto me ; 
and my fury, it upheld me." 

The visions of Daniel portray the Christ sitting 
upon a throne, which supplants all the visions of earthly 
dominion, high and lifted up. His worshippers are 
coming from afar, and magnates are bringing their 
tribute unto him. 

Or shall we ask David himself to sing of his royal 
Son ? " The kings of the earth set themselves, and 



"behold, thy king COMETH UNTO THEE!" 213 

the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and 
against his anointed, saying. Let us break their 
bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh ; the Lord 
shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak 
unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore dis- 
pleasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill 
of Zion. I will declare the decree : the Lord hath 
said unto me, Thou art my Son ; this day have I be- 
gotten thee." 

I am aware that in some quarters prophecy is re- 
garded as mere guess-work, and, as a rule, ex posl facto. 
The supernatural is eliminated from it. One by one 
the predictions which have been supposed to refer to 
the coming of Christ — even such as Christ himself 
interpreted in that way — have been torn asunder to 
make way for a thousand gratuitous and unfounded 
conjectures. Men who call themselves Christians, and 
claim to be experts in Biblical exposition, have 
stretched these prophecies on the rack and claim to 
have forced from them under torture a protesta- 
tion that they have made no reference to Christ at 
all! 

But there is a larger view of this matter. The 
reverent eyes of those who believe that Scripture was 
written by holy men who spake as they were moved 
by the Holy Ghost, can see everywhere in these 
oracles a majestic Figure, looming up in the twi- 
light of the early dawn and coming into clearer 
and ever clearer light, until the Sun of Righteousness 
ariseth with healing in his beams. We are always in 
danger of losing a mighty truth when we speculate 
too closely as to the relative value of the jot and 
the tittle. Men who spend their lives in spectral an- 



214 BEHOLD, THY KING COMETH UNTO THEE! 

alysis are not likely to see nature glorified by the 
sun. 

But let the panorama of visions pass. Close the 
book of prophecy, open the book of history, and con- 
sider the logic of events. 

III. The trimnphal advent in history. We mark a 
continuous procession from the foot of the cross to 
the throne of heaven. 

It is significant that on this occasion our Lord on 
reaching Jerusalem went up immediately into the 
temple. So David sang, " Behold, I have set my 
king upon my holy hill of Zion!" The progress of 
Christianity is identified with the history of the 
Church. 

On leaving this world, our Lord committed his 
work to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was to be 
thenceforth the administrator of the affairs of his 
kingdom until his throne should be fully established 
among men. The Holy Spirit works through the 
Church, touching the lips of its ministers with fire, 
building up its people on their most holy faith, and 
regenerating the hearts of the children of men. The 
Spirit is in the wheels of the great organism, so that 
it goeth whithersoever the Spirit taketh it. We are 
living in the dispensation of the Spirit, whose func- 
tion it is to take of the things of Jesus and show them 
unto us. 

It is written that the whole city was ''moved" 
when Jesus drew nigh to it. The people are moved 
to-day by the presence of Christ. The nations of the 
world are moved by the story of the cross. 

The men of Jerusalem were ''moved.'* They saw 
the influence of this strange and unique personality^ 
In our time it is seen yet more distinctly. The influ- 



"behold, thy king COMETH UNTO THEE! 215 

ence of Christ means the overthrow of caste and the 
setting up of the brotherhood of man. The world is 
old enough now to have established the fact that 
Jesus has come to break every chain and bid the op- 
pressed go free. He has dignified labor, for the 
shadow of the carpenter shop of Nazareth has fallen 
over all. He has more and more dispelled ignorance 
as the centuries have passed by. The lands where 
Christianity prevails are dotted with schools and in- 
stitutions of learning. He stands in history for 
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. He has proven him- 
self to be the Prince of Peace. To-day he is breaking 
the spear asunder. All Christendom is moved with 
indignation at the " concert " of the great powers who 
have undertaken to protect the unspeakable Turk 
and suppress the Cretans in their struggle fcr rights 
and freedom. Shiloh is ruling more and more in the 
hearts and consciences of men. 

The women of Jerusalem were " moved " that day. 
Their clear voices joined in the " Hosannas " that 
greeted the Christ. At that time woman was a house- 
hold drudge ; a toy for the zenana. But under the 
influence of Christianity during these nineteen hun- 
dred years she has been delivered into a glorious 
liberty. The Magnificat was the first outburst of 
gratitude for this splendid service of the Christ : '* My 
soul doth magnify the Lord, because he hath exalted 
the estate of his handmaiden." Wherever Chris- 
tianity prevails, there mother, sister, daughter, wife 
are sacred titles ; there polygamy is a memory, the 
home a paradise. Let Mary break her alabaster box 
and pour the ointment on the head of Jesus, and let all 
her sisters sing, Hosanna to this son of David. 

And the children of Jerusalem were " moved." 



2l6 ''behold, thy king COMETH UNTO THEE! " 

Little piping voices joined in the acclamations. Of 
all the sacred teachers that ever lived, there was not 
one who like Jesus stretched out his arms to the chil- 
dren, saying, " Suffer them to come unto me." Nor 
was there one who so clearly perceived the philosophy 
of the proverb, " The child is father of the man." 
That was a great saying of the Master, " Except ye 
become as little children, ye shall in no wise see the 
kingdom of God." "Rabbi, rebuke them," the Phari- 
sees said, " Hearest thou not ? Bid them keep silent." 
And he answered and said, " If these should hold 
their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." 

The Messiah is bound to have his welcome. The 
world is moved more and more to receive him as the 
centuries pass. All history is paying tribute to 
him. The Church, for the nucleus of which he chose 
eleven men, has passed through persecution after per- 
secution, and from Pentecost to Pentecost, until at 
length there are hundreds of millions who cry, 
" Hosanna, hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the 
name of the Lord! " 

But Jesus was not dazzled by this homage. He 
knew what was to follow. He heard the mutterings 
of hatred beneath this chorus of welcome. At one 
point in his journey he paused and surveyed the Holy 
City. Tears came into his eyes. " O Jerusalem! 
Jerusalem! " he cried, " how often would I have gath- 
ered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth 
her brood under her wings, and ye would not ! 
And now, behold, your house is left unto you deso- 
late." He foresaw the long succession of calamities ; 
the wars and rumors of wars, the centuries of wait- 
ing.; but he knew the end from the beginning. It 
was for the joy set before him in the prophecy of his 



"behold, thy king COMETH UNTO THEE! " 217 

ultimate triumph that he was enabled to endure the 
cross, despising the shame. All things must work to- 
ward the final consummation until he shall be king 
over all and blessed forever. 

Now let us roll up the chronicles, close the pages 
of prophecy and history alike, and gaze for a 
moment toward the heavens. 

IV. The consummation. "I saw heaven opened," 
wrote the Evangelist, " and, behold, a white horse; 
and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and 
True. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his 
head were many crowns. He was clothed in a ves- 
ture dipped in blood ; and his name was called The 
Word of God. And the armies of heaven followed 
him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white 
and clean. And he hath on his vesture and on his 
thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords." 

'^And I saw and, behold, Satan, went forth to 
gather the nations together, Gog and Magog, to 
battle. And the fire of God came down from heaven 
and devoured them. And I saw and, behold, Satan was 
bound and cast into the bottomless pit. And I saw 
the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God 
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her 
husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, 
saying. Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, 
and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his 
people, and God himself shall be with them, and be 
their God." 

We are not left in doubt as to this restitution of 
all things. The only question is, What are our per- 
sonal relations to this ultimate fact ? There were 
four classes of people who on the first Palm Sunday 
looked on Jesus as he entered the Holy City, 



2l8 ** BEHOLD, THY KING COMETH UNTO THEE ! " 

There were the inquirers, who as yet were igno- 
rant of the claims and character of this Jesus. " Who 
is this ? " was their question, and they were ready to 
learn of him. 

And there were the indifferent ; shop-keepers who 
looked out of their doorways, and others who 
regarded with a complacent smile this strange -dis- 
play. They were intent upon secular affairs ; they 
did not know how closely this coming of the Christ 
to Jerusalem was related to their own need and des- 
tiny. Or, if they were told, they cared little or noth- 
ing for it. 

Then too there were the opposers, the enemies of 
Christ. The Pharisees were baffled and angry ; they 
uttered no hosannas ; they hated this Jesus of Naza- 
reth. While men thronged about him as he preached 
in Solomon's Porch, they had retired to the hall 
Gazith, and taken counsel how they might destroy 
him. Destroy him ! He that sitteth in the heavens 
shall laugh. 

And there also were his friends. There were some 
whom he had healed of mortal maladies, some who 
had learned from his lips the great truths of the 
spiritual life, and many who had faith in his power on 
earth to forgive sin ; these cast their garments in the 
way before him. 

We cannot close this brief study of the triumphal 
advent without calling attention to the strange man- 
ner in which the Lord secured his beast of burden. 
"Go ye into the village," he said, ''and ye shall find 
a colt tied, whereon man never sat ; loose him and 
bring him. And if any man say aught unto you, ye 
shall say, The Lord hath need of him." He knew 
that the question of ownership would be likely to 



"behold, thy king COMETH UNTO THEE ! " 219 

arise. We raise the question of ownership constantly; 
as to our time, our energy, our treasure, ourselves. 
There is one word that solves the question. The 
Master hath need. 

Was it true that the Master had need of an ass's 
colt for that occasion of triumph ? Aye ; and for the 
advancing work of his kingdom he has need of our 
time, energy, possessions, all that we have and are. 
** I beseech you, brethren, that ye present yourselves, 
which is your reasonable service." The things that 
we call ours are of value only as they can be applied 
to the uses of his kingdom. He makes a mighty 
claim because he is our King. All that we have be- 
longs to him, because we ourselves are his. So, my 
friend, if you would make the most of life, put every- 
thing at his disposal. If you would make your influ- 
ence tell, put the kingdom above the shop ; the tri- 
umph of Christ above all temporal well-being. He is 
marching straight on through the years from the 
cross to his throne. The royal standards onward go. 
Fall in ! Fall in ! Lift up your voice with the voices 
of the multitude and cry, *' Hosanna, hosanna to the 
Son of David ! " On to the heavenly Zion, whose 
gates are lifted up for all who bear palm branches in 
the company of the Mighty One I On to Zion with 
the multitude of the redeemed, who shall enter in 
with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads I 



CITIZEN GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

" And there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he." 
— I. Sam. ix. 2. 

In the year 1643 Laurence Washington, rector of the 
parish church of Purleigh, was dispossessed of his liv- 
ing by order of 01iverCromwell,on the ground that he 
was " a public tippler, oft drunk and loud to rail against 
the Parliament." The right or wrong of the matter 
does not concern us. A rector without a living has 
a struggle against fate. There were thirteen years of 
it, and then the family broke up. The eldest son, 
John, sailed for America as "second man to Edward 
Prescott," owner of the ship that brought him across 
the Atlantic. He settled on the Northern Neck, 
as it was called, between the Potomac and the Rap- 
pahannock ; and there John begat Lawrence, and 
Lawrence begat Augustine and Augustine begat 
George, with whom we have to do. 

We speak of him fondly and reverently as " the first 
American." But why ? To ascribe to him transcen- 
dent genius or character unparalleled, would be to 
wrong the memory of not a few Americans who, in 
both natural gifts and accomplishments, have towered 
head and shoulders above him. Nevertheless, when 
you have named them all, lo, Washington stands 

(220) 



CITIZEN GEORGE WASHINGTON. 221 

facile princeps — " first in war, first in peace, first in the 
hearts of his countrymen." 

I. He is entitled to this pre-eminence, at the outset, 
because he was so distinctly a rnan of the people. The 
best political type of man in America is the aver- 
age man. If you want his picture, you must take 
a composite photograph of the whole people. At no 
point, in qualities natural or acquired, must he be 
colossal. His greatness is a symmetry of common- 
places. No segment of his character is far above me- 
diocrity, but the circumference is perfect. This is 
the ideal in American citizenship. And because our 
hero stood so splendidly for that ideal he was pushed 
to the front as *' Citizen George Washington." 

We " reformers " are apt to forget this thing. 
The rule of the best is our ambition ; but popular 
sovereignty means the rule, not of the best, but of the 
average. Let us spare our lamentations. All goes 
well. Vox populi, vox Dei. The country is safer in 
the hands of John Plowman than in those of the 
most select oligarchy. Let that be remembered 
when our ward goes wrong. It has (say) 3,000 
voters ; of whom fifty are men of means, culture 
and good morals. You say those fifty must march 
in the van of the 2,950, or else the community is 
in danger. God forbid ! The man who in our ward 
as elsewhere must "bear the gree an' a' that," 
is the average man. Reformers must take their 
places, and wield their influence, in the rank and 
file. The '' rule of the best," so-called, has ruined 
all the alleged republics of history. Tarquin the 
Proud, walking with his prime minister in the royal 
gardens, was asked, " Which is the strongest form 
of government?" He said not a word, but with his 



222 CITIZEN GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Staff whipped off the heads of the tallest poppies. 
That was a wise answer. Abraham Lincoln was of 
the same mind: " Have faith," said he, " in the peo- 
ple." In any case, whether we like it or not, this is 
the theory of our government. For want of appre- 
hending it, reformers become pessimists and political 
preachers develop into common scolds. Level dow?i ! 
is the word ; and Level up ! is the word ; and Strike 
the average! is the secret of our political life. So 
long as the average man is true to his responsibilities 
God reigns and the country is safe. 

So much for citizenship ; but what about rulers 
and magistrates ? Shall they not be skimmed from 
the top ? Not if representative government is wise. 
The average man best represents the people. In 
point of fact our rulers and magistrates, from George 
Washington to William McKinley, and from the 
White House to the City Hall, have been average 
men. As for such as boast their millions, wear uni- 
versity honors and delight themselves in the shadow 
of venerable family-trees, verily they have their re- 
ward, but not in political preferment. Washington 
the farmer, Lincoln the rail-splitter. Grant the tan- 
ner — this is the way Democracy works itself out. 
The village blacksmith is the stuff that sound gov- 
ernments are made of. 

But here again, the reformer is in danger of losing 
both his philosophy and his temper. Because he can- 
not agree with current political methods, he concludes 
the system is bad; and because his confreres are not 
at the helm, the ship is little better than a nest of 
pirates. His vocabulary is inadequate to a just char- 
acterization of politics and politicians. Not one of 
our public men has escaped the tongue of well mean- 



CITIZEN GEORGE WASHINGTON. 223 

ing calumny. George Washington, during his ad- 
ministration of public affairs, was charged with ly- 
ing, malfeasance and misappropriation of public 
funds. Shamed by the obloquy which was heaped 
upon him, he expressed the wish that he had been 
carried to his grave before consenting to participate 
in public affairs. '* Such indecent terms," he cried, 
^' could scarcely have been applied to a common pick- 
pocket." On one occasion he prepared an elaborate 
defence and read it with these prefatory words, 
"Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my specta- 
cles; for I have grown not only gray but almost blind 
in the service of my country." It is easy to see, 
through the years, the injustice of it all; but surely 
there is a lesson for us. Who among our public func- 
tionaries has escaped the bitter sting of partisan pas- 
sion ? If what we hear is true, they have all gone 
astray and wrought wickedness, there is none that 
doeth good, no, not one. By long persistence in this 
sort of judgment, we have succeeded at length in 
making politics so disreputable that self-respecting 
gentlemen are loath to have anything to do with them. 
The whole method rests on a misapprehension. 
There is no such thing as natural leadership. Neither 
is a man entitled to it because he is wise, wealthy, or 
surpassingly pious. The average man, who, separat- 
ing himself from the mass, forces his way by personal 
energy and with popular consent, to the top, is the 
man who belongs there. Any other view savors of the 
divine right of kings. Louis XIV. said, "I am the state." 
Washington ruled as one of thQ yto^le^ p?^imus titter 
pares, vindicating his right to leadership not so much by 
a personal assurance of competency as by a determin- 
ation on the part of the people that he should lead. 



224 CITIZEN GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

II. Another reason for assigning to Washington 
the first place in American Citizenship is the fact that 
he was in perfect sympathy and accord with the imder lying 
principles of the republic. 

(i) The love of Freedom was as the breath of his 
nostrils. He believed in the dignity of manhood, as 
a reflex of the sovereignty of God. 

O mighty brother soul of man, 
Where'er thou art, or low or high, 
Thy skyey arches with exultant span, 
O'er-roof infinity ! 

This means that mind, conscience and will are 
subservient only to the divine behest. No power, 
civil or ecclesiastical, must be permitted to forge 
fetters for the freeman whom the truth has made 
free. 

(2) And then Equality. This is the obverse and 
complement of liberty. A man, sovereign in his 
own right, is of necessity the equal of every other 
man. 

Such adventitious circumstances as blue blood 
and yellow dust have nothing to do with it. 

The rank is but the guinea's stamp ; 
The man's the gold. 

When you have traced your genealogy, my friend, 
back to William the Conqueror, it will be wise to go 
further still, in the genial company of any chance 
acquaintance, until you find your noblest birthright 
in the saying that is written, " He was the son of 
Seth, who was the son of Enoch, who was the son of 
Adam, who was the son of God." Then come to 
Areopagus and hear Paul's manifesto to the proud 
Autochthenes, "God hath made of one blood all 



CITIZEN GEORGE WASHINGTON. 225 

nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth." 
And by that time we shall be ready to go down — as 
Washington went down from New York to Philadel- 
phia in June, 1776 — to hear the clangor of old Liberty 
Bell, ringing and swinging round and round to tell 
the world that *' all men are created free and equal 
and with certain inalienable rights." There is not 
the width of a mountain brook betwixt those two 
great doctrines, liberty and equality. Out of the way, 
then, George the Third! and up with the Third Estate! 
(3) But given liberty and equality, we are bound 
to add Fraternity. *' Let us hang together," exhorted 
John Hancock in that Continental Congress. "Aye," 
responded a voice, "or we shall hang apart." The 
normal expression of this fact is universal suffrage. 
Liberty and Equality are mere high-sounding words, 
except as they are guarded and defended by the 
ballot—- 

A weapon stronger yet, 

And better than the bayonet, 

A weapon that comes down as still 

As snowflakes fall upon the sod, 

And executes a freeman's will, 

As lightning docs the will of God. 

The French, therefore, were right. The triad of 
principles, " Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," are the 
sustaining pillars of popular constitutional govern- 
ment. To each of these the heart of Washington 
responded. Yea and Amen. "Aristocrat?" Not he. 
By birth, breeding and conviction, he was a republican; 
own brother to him who, a century later, besought his 
countrymen to " highly resolve that a government of 
the people, by the people and for the people, shall not 
perish from the earth." 



226 CITIZEN GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

It is regarded as greatly to Washington's credit 
that, when the sceptre was placed within his grasp, he 
refused it. " Be assured, sir," he wrote, " no occur- 
rence in the course of this war has given me more 
painful sensations than your assurance that such ideas 
prevail in the army. I am much at a loss to conceive 
what part of my conduct could have given encourage- 
ment to an address which seems big with the greatest 
mischiefs that can befall my country. If I am not 
deceived in myself, you could not have found a person 
to whom your schemes could be more disagreeable 
Let me conjure you, therefore, if you have any regard 
for your country, concern for yourself and posterity, 
or respect for me, to banish these thoughts from your 
mind." But why should this be regarded as a strange 
thing ? It was just like Washington. It was precisely 
what we should expect from such a man. 

III. And this leads to a further reason for his un- 
disputed primacy, to wit, his glorious patriotism. A 
man may be intellectually drenched with political 
truth, and still false to the body politic. The entire 
consecration of Washington — body, soul and estate — 
to the cause which he espoused, made him the Father 
of his Country. 

At the drum-beat he was ready. Every drop 
of his blood throbbed hot for "the independence of 
these colonies." The die once cast, no doubts or 
misgivings restrained him. On hearing that his 
nephew had entertained a company of British officers 
at Mount Vernon in his absence, he wrote, " It would 
have been a less painful circumstance to me, had they 
in consequence of your non-compliance with their 
request, burnt my house and laid the plantation in 
ruin." 



CITIZEN GEORGE WASHINGTON. 227 

There was no reserve in his consecration to the 
cause. Did he in the fervor of war exceed the bounds 
of prudence? "My excuse," he wrote to Congress, 
"must be a character to lose, an estate to forfeit, the 
inestimable blessing of liberty at stake, and a life 
devoted." 

Here is the secret of his military success — " liberty 
at stake and a life devoted." The Museum of Art in 
this city has recently been enriched, through the 
generosity of a fellow-townsman, by the addition of 
an historic masterpiece known as "Washington Cross- 
ing the Delaware." It tells a story of unswerving 
and indomitable courage. Ten hours on a storm- 
swept river, wrapped in the darkness of an Egyptian 
night, forcing a way through fields of floating ice ; 
then the dreary march to Trenton through driving 
sleet. " The guns are wet," complained General Sul- 
livan. "Use the bayonet," said Washington ; "the 
town must be taken ! " The town was taken. Then 
on to Princeton after Cornwallis. "An old-fashioned 
Virginia fox-hunt, gentlemen," said our hero, bending 
in his saddle to shout the view-halloo. This was the 
movement which Frederick the Great pronounced to 
be "the most brilliant campaign of the century." 

But a true patriot loves better to sheathe his 
sword than draw it. The mark of great generalship 
is in the words, " Let us have peace." At the close of 
the Revolution the commander in-chief retired to 
Mount Vernon. His mind, at this period, was unveiled 
in a letter to Lafayette: " At length, my dear Marquis, 
I am become a private citizen on the banks of the 
Potomac. And under the shadow of my own vine 
and fig-tree, free from the bustle of the camp and the 
busy scenes of public life, I am solacing myself with 



228 CITIZEN GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

those tranquil enjoyments of which the soldier who is 
ever in pursuit of fame, the statesman whose watch- 
ful days and sleepless nights are spent in devising 
schemes to promote the welfare of his own and per- 
haps the ruin of other countries — as if this globe was 
insufficient for all — and the courtier who is always 
watching the countenance of his prince, can have 
very little conception. I have not only retired from 
all public enjoyments, but am retiring within myself. 
Envious of none, I am determined to be pleased with 
all. And this, my dear friend, being the order of my 
march, I will move gently down the stream of time 
until I sleep with my fathers." 

A pleasant picture this ; the weary veteran, ** first 
in peace," going the rounds of his plantation, casting 
up accounts, or gossiping with Jack Custis' little lad 
— " a very little gentleman with a feather in his hat, 
holding fast to one finger of the good General's re- 
markable hand " — but it passed like a pleasant dream- 

There were problems to be solved more difficult 
than the crossing of swords. The Colonies were 
bound together by a rope of sand. Their credit was 
utterly broken down. Their various interests were 
pulling them asunder. The mind of Washington 
swept the future ; he saw a continental empire 
threaded by ways of commerce which, like an arterial 
system, should find a common centre. But the drift 
was toward chaos. The Planter of Mount Vernon 
wrote to Henry Lee, *' I know not where that influ- 
ence can be found which shall be a proper remedy 
for our disorders. Influence is not government. Let 
us have a government by which our lives, liberties and 
properties shall be secured, or let us know the worst 
at once." 



CITIZEN GEORGE WASHINGTON. 229 

Aye, by all means let us have a government f But 
who shall lead the way ? Cincinnatus must be called 
from the plow. '* We cannot, sir, do without you," 
said Governor Johnson ; " and I and thousands 
more can explain to anybody but yourself why we 
cannot do without you." 

Never was a more unwilling candidate for the high 
honors of state. " My movement to the chair of gov- 
ernment," he wrote, '' will be accompanied by feelings 
not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place 
of execution." But his love of country constrained 
him. Farewell to the restful pleasures of Mount 
Vernon ! The journey was a triumph all the way 
from the banks of the Potomac to the ferry-stairs at 
the Battery. There were arches and garlands ; 
mounted escorts and processions of children ; salvos 
of cannon and martial music and vociferous cheer- 
ing. It was on the 30th of April, 1789, that, facing 
the people from the balcony of Federal Hall, in Wall 
Street, Washington said, " I do solemnly swear, that 
I will faithfully execute the office of President of 
these United States, and will to the best of my 
ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitu- 
tion " ; then added, as he kissed the Bible, "So help 
me God ! " 

IV. And here we come upon the full and final just- 
ification of his civic primacy ; namely, he believed with 
all his soul in the God of Nations. No atheist, no in- 
fidel, no rationalist could have occupied his place. 
Thomas Paine, champion of human rights ; Jefferson, 
architect of the nation's framework ; Franklin, far- 
seeing prophet of its destiny — all were incompetent 
to lead the way. There must be faith to follow the 
pillar of cloud. God's hand has been manifest in our 



230 CITIZEN GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

history ever since Columbus planted the red-cross 
banner on the shore and christened the new-found 
continent " Land of the Saviour," Not all Ameri- 
cans are Christians ; but thrice over it has been 
determined in our National Court of Last Appeal, 
that Christianity is an organic part of our common 
law. 

Washington believed in God and made no scruple 
to avow it. He struck the key-note of our national 
welfare and prosperity when in his inaugural address 
he said, " The smiles of heaven can never be expected 
to rest on a nation that disregards the eternal rules 
of order and right which heaven has ordained." And 
again when he resigned his commission to Congress : 
" I consider it my indispensable duty to close this last 
solemn act of my life by commending the interests of 
our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God 
and those who have the superintendence of them to 
his holy keeping." 

He believed in '' God Manifest in Flesh," as the 
teacher, liberator and unifier of the race. He con- 
ceived of the Brotherhood of Man as proceeding from 
Christ's doctrine of the Fatherhood of God. He said, 
''It is my earnest prayer that God would incline the 
hearts of our citizens to cultivate the spirit of subor- 
dination and obedience to government ; and that he 
would be most graciously pleased to dispose us all to 
do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves 
with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of 
mind, which were the characteristics of the divine 
Author of our blessed religion, without a humble 
imitation of whose example in these things we can 
never hope to be a happy nation." 

He believed in the Bible. He referred to it as 



CITIZEN GEORGE WASHINGTON. 23I 

" the pure and benignant light of revelation." He 
loved it ; he searched it as for hid treasure. He be- 
lieved that he found in it the inestimable riches of the 
endless life. 

He believed in the Church as God's temple. He 
shared with the other framers of the Constitution in 
a profound abhorrence of a national establishment of 
religion. In this he quite agreed with that dis- 
tinguished Irish orator who characterized the union 
of Church and State as ''a foul and adulterous con- 
nection, which corrupts the purity of heaven with the 
abominations of earth and hangs the tattered rags of 
political piety on the insulted cross of a crucified 
Redeemer." He was himself a Churchman — no wiz- 
ened stickler for sectarian pre-eminence — but a be- 
liever in the goodly fellowship of that Holy Catholic 
Church, whose rock-rooted power is the franchise of 
national greatness and continuance. To his mind, 
Church and State were co-ordinate powers, — indepen- 
dent, interdependent, and both alike ordained of God. 

He was a praying man. On his leaving home in 
early boyhood his mother said, " My son, never neg- 
lect the duty of secret prayer." Nor did he. It was 
his custom to rise at four in the morning for devotions. 
It is known to every one how a certain Quaker, while 
walking along a creek near Valley Forge, heard a 
voice from a dense thicket, pushed his way through 
and found Washington upon his knees. His face was 
uplifted and suffused with tears. The Continental 
cause was then at the last extremity. The troops 
were barefoot and hungry, the treasury depleted, and 
all hearts sick with hope deferred. The Commander- 
in-chief was making a mighty appeal to God for the 
triumph of right and freedom. The great leaders in 



232 CITIZEN GEORGE V.'ASHIXGTON. 

the historic struggles for human rights have been 
praying men, such as Cromwell, William Prince of 
Orange, and Gustavus Adolphus, who entered battle 
with a Pater Xoster on his lips. 

The religion of Washington was more than an 
outward profession. It had the savor of salt. In a 
copy-book used in his boyhood is this sentence writ 
large, "Labor to preserve in your bosom that linger- 
ing spark of heavenly fire which men call conscience." 
That maxim was ever his guiding star. His life was 
marked by an enlightened probity. The flour manu- 
factured at Mount Vernon and bearing- the Washing;, 
ton mark, was passed without the customary inspec- 
tion in W^est Indian ports. The name of Washington 
was voucher for truth, honesty, genuineness. He 
had learned the blaster's word, " Let your light so 
shine before men that they may see your good works 
and glorify God." 

It may be profitable here to call attention to a 
striking historical parallel. The cause of freedom 
was fought out almost contemporaneously in America 
and in France. When the hour struck in our country, 
the man was forthcoming — Washington, a man who 
thoroughly believed in God. When the hour struck 
in France, also, the man was forthcoming — Napoleon, 
who followed his star of destiny. While our people 
were nerving themselves in prayer and consecration 
for the approaching struggle, the mobs were gather- 
ing in the streets of Paris ; they were writing "Lib- 
erty, Equality, Fraternity," across the dead walls 
and on the doors of Notre Dame. The Continental 
Congress was opened with prayer; but in the Corps 
Legislatif a resolution was offered and passed, "There 
is no God ! " The wives and children of the Colonies, 



CITIZEN GEORGE WASHINGTON. 233 

while their husbands and fathers were enduring the 
rigors of war, bore hunger and privation with hum- 
ble patience. The women of France marched out to 
Versailles and interrupted the National Assembly, 
crying, " This is no question of politics ; this is a ques- 
tion of bread." While the fabric of constitutional 
freedom was rising on this side of the sea, the sharp 
blade of the guillotine on the other was decapitating 
the bravest and noblest of France. And when our na- 
tion was rejoicing in the ultimate success of its glori- 
ous struggle for human rights, and giving praises to 
God, the disappointed people of France were in un- 
speakable despair because their hopes were extin- 
guished and their ill-founded temple of freedom had 
gone down in fire and blood. So true is it, that the 
nation that will not serve God shall perish. Of men 
and nations alike Jehovah has said, "If ye seek me, I will 
be found of you; if ye forsake me, I will cast you off." 
Let it be observed that, in commemorating the 
civil virtues of Washington, we inadvertently weigh 
and measure his religion. For his life was moulded 
by his faith. We must, therefore, — unless our rever- 
ence for him is mere fruitless sentiment, — pay tribute 
to the God in whom he believed, the Saviour in whom 
he trusted, the Bible in which he had implicit confi- 
dence, the Church whose interests he espoused, the 
Sabbath which he scrupulously observed, the habit of 
prayer which he regarded as the bond of union be- 
tween heaven and earth, and all those Christian 
graces which, making up a perfect character, find 
their realization in the divine Son of Man. So that 
the logical conclusion of the whole matter should be, 
" His God shall be our God, his Bible our Bible, and 
his Religion our Religion forever and ever." 



THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAS. 

" Then certain of the scribes and Pharis^,es answered, saying, Master, we 
would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An 
evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no 
sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: for as Jonas was 
three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man 
be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."— Matt. 
xii. 38-40. 

No man ever made such extraordinary claims as 
this Jesus of Nazareth. Who was he ? A man of the 
people who had received his education in a carpenter 
shop; yet he put himself forward as an infallible 
teacher in spiritual things. He touched the great 
problems of eternity with a fearless hand, and he 
taught as one having authority. The common 
people followed him in multitudes and heard him 
gladly. The scribes and Pharisees who were the 
accredited theologians of the time, looked on with 
amazement and envy. They inquired of him, 
''Whence is thine authority?" He answered, "From 
heaven." *' Then give us a sign from heaven," said 
they, "to verify it." 

He had wrought miracles among them. I do not 
say he claimed to work miracles, because his miracles 
were at that time undisputed facts. There were pres- 
ent in the popular assemblages those whose eyes had 
been opened, whose leprous scales had been wiped 
away, whose palsied limbs had been restored by his 

(234) 



THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAS 235 

power. In the presence of such witnesses there was 
no room for denial or doubt. The only question was 
Whence did Jesus derive this power to work mir- 
acles ? Was it from above or from beneath ? The 
scribes and Pharisees intimated that it was from 
Satan. "No," said Jesus, "it is divine power. I can 
do nothing except the Father be with me. I and my 
Father are one." Then said the scribes and Phari- 
sees, " Let us see your credentials. If this power be 
from heaven, show us a sign from heaven to attest 
it." But Jesus refused. He could say "No" on 
occasion, and there were special reasons why he should 
here refuse to give a sign. 

(i) Because it would have been of no use. The 
trouble with the scribes and Pharisees was unbelief. 
A heavenly portent might convince their reason, but 
it could not change their heart. There was no adapta- 
tion of the means to the end. 

The Hindoos tell of a famous conjurer who was 
commanded by his Rajah to gather peaches in winter. 
He said, " I will send up my little son to the orchard 
and see." He tossed a ball of twine into the air and 
ordered the lad to climb. T he boy ascended hand over 
hand until he disappeared from sight. Presently a 
peach fell out of heaven, another and another; then 
came a bloody hand, a foot, a gory head, and trunk. 
The conjurer wailed, "They have caught my son and 
killed him. O Rajah, and good people, give me money 
to bury him." It was done. He gathered the severed 
limbs as if for burial, threw his cloak over them, waved 
his wand and, lo, his son walked forth. Now there 
was a sign from heaven apparently. It was possible 
beyond all doubt for Jesus to produce a marvel of that 
sort. But what then ? It would only have convinced 



236 THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAS. 

the beholders that he was a marvelous wizard, a 
master of his art. And nothing was further from the 
mind of Jesus than this. He came not to startle and 
bewilder men, but to save their souls from the power 
of death and hell. 

A sign from heaven would have presented to the 
scribes and Pharisees no satisfactory argument for the 
validity of his religious teaching. It certainly could 
not have regenerated their souls, or brought them in 
humble penitence before God. 

A man convinced against his will 
Is of the same opinion still. 

(2) He refused the sign, furthermore, because they 
already had signs enough. They had the Bible. This 
is the great miracle; the unveiling of the mind of 
God. It brought a message to the Pharisees concern- 
ing the Messiah which they refused to hear. His 
face was everywhere upon its pages. " Search the 
Scriptures," said Jesus, "for in them ye think ye have 
eternal life, and these are they which testify of me." 
It was their special business as religious teachers to 
know these Scriptures, and yet they had failed to dis- 
cern their true significance. " If ye believe not Moses 
and the prophets," said Jesus, "ye would not believe 
though one rose from the dead." Still further, they 
had heard the discourses of Jesus, and had seen his 
wonderful works, but prejudice had blinded their 
eyes. They were given over to unbelief. They did 
not see, because they would not see. 

But there was one sign which Jesus said these 
cavilers should have, to wit: The sign of the prophet 
Jonas. This was a sign, indeed, not from heaven, but 
from earth, from the darkness of the tomb, from the 



THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAS. 237 

belly of hell. How runs the record ? " T/ie word of 
the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai^ saying^ Arise, 
go down to Nineveh^ that great city^ and cry against it j for 
their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up 
to flee from the presence of the Lord^ and went down to 
Joppa^ and found a ship goiftg to Tarshish : so he paid the 
fare thereof, and went down into it. But the Lord sent out 
a great wind, and there was a tempest in the sea, so that the 
ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners iock up 
Jonah arid cast him forth j and the sea ceased from her 
raging. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swal- 
low Jonah, and he was in the belly of the fish three days 
and three nights. And he prayed unto the Lord out of the 
belly of hell, and the Lord heard him. And the fish vomited 
out Jonah upon the dry land. Now the word of the Lord 
came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, and go unto 
Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching 
that I bid thee. So he a^ose and went unto Nineveh, And 
he began to enter into the city a day's journey ; and cried, 
Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown ! So the 
people of Ninevt h believed God and proclaimed a fast. A nd 
God saiv their works that they turned f rem their evil way j 
and God repented of the evil that he said he would do unto 
them J and he did it not." 

Now this is the sign which Jesus gave to those 
who refused to believe in him. A sign is something 
that signifies. What is the significance of the sign of 
the prophet Jonas ? In other words, What did our 
Lord mean by it ? 

I. // was a V indie at io?i of the truth of prophecy. Our 
Lord said to his companions on his way to the village 
of Emmaus as he opened their understanding in the 
Scriptures, "Thus it is written, and thus it behooved 
Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead." 



238 THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAS. 

It is the fashion in these days to make light of the 
story of Jonah. In some ecclesiastical quarters it is 
spoken of as a fable. Let it be understood, however, 
First, that the Jews did not so regard it. To them it 
was a record of an historical event. It was never 
called in question among those who accepted the 
Scriptures as the word of God. Second, the early 
Christians believed it. We find conclusive evidence 
of this in the fact that rude pictures of Jonah and 
the great fish are to be found on many of the 
graves in the catacombs. Here the early Christians 
laid away their dead and professed their faith in 
a final resurrection by the sign of the prophet 
Jonas. As the sea monster vomited forth the 
prophet, so should the grave give up the sleeping 
dust of their beloved to newness of life and im- 
mortality. And third, Christ believed it. He made 
this truth the guarantee of his own triumph over 
death. Had he regarded it as mere folk-lore, he could 
not have made such use of it. We do not use fables 
as guarantees of fact. Try it in a court of justice. 
As surely as Jason sought and found the Golden 
Fleece, so surely will I tell the truth ! But that would 
scarcely answer. You must certify by an indubitable 
fact like this : As surely as there is a God in heaven 
I will tell the truth ! Or try it in a common matter 
like the contract for a debt ; make out your note on 
this wise : By the sign of Jack and the Beanstalk, or 
of Cinderella and her Crystal Slipper, I promise to 
pay when this obligation falls due. Does this seem 
preposterous ? It is not a whit more preposterous 
than to allege that Jesus referred to a fable when he 
was called upon to produce a sign in verification of 
his claims as the only-begotten Son of God. 



THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAS. 239 

II. The sign of the prophet Jonas was designed to 
verify and e7nphasize the Messiahship of Christ. The 
antitype of Jonah and the great fish was the resur- 
rection of Christ. This is the one pre-eminent miracle 
by which he verifies his claim. Thus Paul writes to 
the Romans: " He was declared to be the Son of God 
with power by his resurrection from the dead." This 
event proved his Messiahship with all that was in- 
volved in it. 

It is a mighty claim, this claim that Jesus is the 
very Son of God. It covers his relations with his 
people every way. 

(i) He presents himself as our prophet or teacher in 
spiritual things. He announced great truths. He 
stated them with authority; he did not hesitate to 
dogmatize with reference to them. Can we depend 
upon his word ? Yes, if the sign of the prophet Jonas 
holds true. The poet Keats said, *' My life is written in 
water." The authoritative teachings of Jesus of Naz- 
areth were written in water indeed, if, like our fallible 
teachers, he succumbed to the power of death. But 
if on the other hand he conquered death, then every 
word of his presses itself upon heart and conscience 
with an irresistible force. 

(2) He offers himself to us as our priest. He proposes 
to lay himself upon the altar as a living sacrifice in our 
behalf, to be wounded for our transgressions and 
bruised for our iniquities, that by his stripes we may be 
healed. He paid our ransom on the cross. But the 
proof of the payment of the debt is in the release of the 
debtor. He drew his bleeding hand, as he hung on Cal- 
vary, across the handwriting of ordinances that was 
against us and erased it. But we are still in the debtor's 
prison. In Joseph's garden the doors are flung wide 



240 THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAS. 

open ; the seal of the satisfaction of j astice is put upon 
the great sacrifice, and all the moral bankrupts of all 
ages and generations come forth by faith into the glori- 
ous liberty of the children of God. The sign of the 
prophet Jonas tells us that the ransom is accepted. 
To Mary weeping beside the tomb, because her divine 
Lord was dead, he suddenly appears and calls her by 
name; she falls at his feet and would embrace them, 
crying, '* Rabboni ! " He w^as dead and is alive again, 
and the word which he spoke to her is true, '' Daughter, 
thy sins be forgiven thee ! " 

(3) He offers himself to us as King; as King to 
protect and rule over us. And with power he vindi- 
cates his claim by his resurrection from the dead. 
Who is the mightiest of earth ? The King of Terrors. 
Is there any to dispute his power ? Nay, there is no 
power like that of Death. Can the power of wealth 
equal it ? Croesus is reduced to dust. The power of 
glory ? Nay, 

Imperious Csesar, dead and turned to clay, 
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away. 

The power of armies and navies ? The shores of all 
the oceans are littered with shattered fleets and the 
hillsides are strewn with the dust of panoplied hosts. 
Who then shall dispute with death ? On the pale 
horse, scythe in hand, he always has the right of 
way. At the door of the cemetery he laughs, and says, 
" I gather them in! I gather them in! " " My kingdom 
for an inch of time!" cries Queen Elizabeth. Fold her 
hands, cover her eyes; death is too much for her. 
" Fie ! fie! " said Cardinal Beaufort, when they told him 
he had but a moment to live; " Wherefore shall death 
have me ? Are my treasuries empty? Go bribe him !" 



THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAS. 241 

Fold his hands and carry him out; death has conquered. 
Death always conquers. Always ? Nay, not in 
Joseph's garden. Here Christ meets the King of 
Terrors and vanquishes him — vanquishes him in 
behalf of all the children of men. In the darkness of 
this sepulchre, the bands and napkin, that never yet 
had been resisted, were as green withes in the grip of 
this Samson who rent them and came forth wiping 
the death dew from his face, saying, ''O death, 
where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy victory ? " 
And into the fellowship of this triumph he invites his 
people, following with them always after the bier and 
standing beside the open graves of their beloved say- 
ing, "I am the resurrection and the life; he that 
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he 
live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall 
never die." 

III. The sign of the prophet Jonas gives us a 
definite assurance of life and immortality. It is written, 
" Life and immortality are brought to light in the 
Gospel." The world had always dreamed of immor- 
tality ; had guessed and wondered and hoped. 
Now, however, the mists of doubt are lifted, the 
dream becomes a reality, the peradventure gives way 
to the '' Yea " and ** Amen " of the risen Son of God. 

The relation of Christ to the believer in the 
matter of his resurrection is eloquently put by Paul 
in his Easter address to the Christians of Corinth: 
" Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead^ 
how say sonie among you that there is no resurrection of the 
dead? For if there be no resurrection^ then is not Christ 
risen. And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching 
vainy and your faith is also vain j ye are yet in your sins. 
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are fer- 



242 THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAS. 

ished. If i?i this life only we have hope ifi Christ, ive are 
of all men tnost mherable. Bid now is Christ risen from 
the dead and become the first fruifs of them that slept P 

There is a world of meaning in that word, ''first 
fruits." It calls up the picture of a Hebrew farmer 
scattering his wheat in the furrows; then guarding 
his fields against drought and mildew and vermin 
and the fowls of the air; then watching for the first 
appearance of the green blade; praying for the dews 
and the latter rains; fearing, hoping until the green 
grows golden, and then going forth with sickle in 
hand to reap where the sun has fallen most benig- 
nantly, and bearing his sheaf to the temple — the first 
fruits, to wave it before the altar as prayer and 
prophecy; a prayer that God will guard the growing 
fields, a prophecy that the whole harvest shall be 
brought in. The great choirs of the temple sing the 
festival chorus, but there is an undertone which only 
the farmer hears; the joy of the hungry, the song of 
harvest home, the creaking of the heavy wains that bear 
the yellow harvest to the garners. So Christ is the 
first sheaf of the resurrection waved before the altar 
of God. His resurrection is both prayer and 
prophecy. " Now is Christ risen from the dead and be- 
come the first fruits of them that slept And behold, I 
show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all 
be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye : for 
the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incor- 
ruptible. Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is 
written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where 
is thy sting 2 O grave, where is thy victory ? The sting 
of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But 
thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our 
Lord Jesus Christ'^ 



TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE. 

" So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him." 

— Gen. i. 27. 
" For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned 

him with glory and honor." — Ps, viii. 5. 
" How much better then is a man than a sheep." — Matt. xii. 12. 
" Behold, now are we sons of God ; and it doth not yet appear what we shall 

be."— I. John iii. 2. 
" Let no man despise thee."— Titus ii. 15. 

A man's opinion of himself has much to do with 
his manner of life. There are two extremes: On the 
one hand it is quite possible for one to *' think of 
himself more highly than he ought to think." There 
is nothing which betrays itself more certainly than 
conceit. It is apparent even in the walk and the lifting 
of the eyes. An extreme case was that of Louis 
XIV., who, when reminded by his chaplain that he 
was a great sinner and in danger of eternal death, 
replied with a shrug of his shoulders, " All true, no 
doubt; but the good God will think twice before he 
casts out so good a prince as I am." 

The other extreme is servility. This also mani- 
fests itself in unmistakable ways. What is more de- 
spicable than the fawning obsequiousness of Uriah 
Heep; the pale eyes, the clammy hand, the shuffling 
step, the cringing manner ? But between conceit and 
servility lies the golden mean; to-wit, — self-respect. 
" This above all, to thine own self be true, and it 

(243) 



244 TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE. 

must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then 
be false to any man." The Scotch have a pre verb of 
like import: *' Be a friend to yersel and ithers will." 
It was a wise saying of John Milton, "The pious and 
just honoring of ourselves may be thought the foun- 
tain head from which every laudable and worthy 
enterprise issues forth." 

But self-respect must have a solid basis. There 
are men who have no right to respect themselves. 
They should, in all reason, abhor and bemoan them- 
selves in sackcloth and ashes. But there are others 
who, while suffering from the common malady, sin, 
are yet conscious of right purposes and noble aspira- 
tions. There is such a thing as a valid self-respect. 
It is grounded on self-knowledge. " Know thyself," 
said the Delphic oracle. Who am I ? Whence came 
I ? What do I ? And whither am I bound ? 

I. K710W thy ortgifi. It is a great thing to be able 
to say with assurance, " I came forth from God. I 
was made in his likeness and after his image ; his 
breath is in my nostrils." 

Here is where the doctrine of evolution comes in. 
By evolution is properly meant the development of 
the highest form of being from the lowest, by the calm 
processes of natural law, without any necessity of 
interposition on the part of God. 

(i) The Bible statement is very clear. There is no 
equivocation in the narrative of the creation of man. 
He came originally from the formative hand of God, 
full-grown, erect, intelligent and able to hold com- 
munion with the Being who created him. To those 
who accept the Scriptures as an infallible record, this 
should be conclusive. Those who take issue with 
their truthfulness, will attach little weight to it. 



TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE. 245 

(2) But there is another source of information, 
namely, conjecture. It deals in theories and hypo- 
theses, and arrives at non sequitur conclusions. An 
archaeologist named Dubois recently unearthed, some 
yards apart, in the island of Java, a skull and a tibia. 
The skull belonged to an ape, the tibia to a man. 
Professor Dubois put on his guessing-cap forthwith, 
and said, "I guess these are about ten millions of 
years old," and again, '' I guess they were parts of a 
single organism," and still further, *' I guess I have 
found the missing link." And there are people who 
accept this sort of thing without a murmur ! 

(3) One voice, however, is still to be heard, the 
voice of science. The word science is from scire^ to 
know. Science deals only in facts. What has science 
to say as an arbiter in the controversy between reve- 
lation and hypothesis ? Only this, " I do not know." 

Of course, if evolution is proven to be a scientific 
fact, we must accept it. Demonstration makes an end 
of controversy. But no scientist of any standing 
claims that evolution is a demonstrated fact. It is 
called now a theory and now a hypothesis. Darwin 
himself was frank to admit that its essential claims 
were unproven. It is only dilettanti scientists, and 
theologians in whom the wish is father to the thought, 
who assert otherwise. There are infinite gulfs which, 
by common consent, remain to be bridged ; such for 
example as the gulf between nothing and something, 
and that between chaos and cosmos, and another be- 
tween organic and inorganic matter, and still another 
between mere animal life and the divine soul. Until 
these and other chasms are bridged, it is manifest 
folly to accept evolution as a demonstrated fact. 
For years there has been a continuous endeavor 



246 TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE. 

to find the remains of a pre-Adamite man. It has 
been heralded once and again that a satisfactory- 
refutation of the Mosaic anthropology had been 
found in fossil deposits. A few years ago, for exam- 
ple, a skull was found in the delta of the Mississippi 
at a point below the surface which seemed to demon- 
strate the most extreme antiquity. The scientists 
made a close calculation, resulting in the conclusion 
that the strata under which the skull was discovered 
could not have been formed in less than eleven 
millions of years. It occurred to them, that probably 
there were remains of still greater value to be found 
further down. The excavation was continued — and 
resulted in the finding of the remains of an old- 
fashioned flat-boat. Not all investigations of this 
character have ended in such sudden discomfiture; 
but all are alike in having fallen far short of proof. 
Whatever the future may bring forth, at this moment 
Adam remains the first man. 

It passes understanding, under these conditions, 
how any man should be willing — and many seem not 
only willing, but eager — to accept as final a mere 
guess that man is descended from an anthropoid ape. 
It makes no difference, they say, whence we came, so 
long as we are here. But it does make a difference. 
It makes a great difference in the matter of self-re- 
spect. Blood is thicker than water. Ancestors do not 
go for nought. It is surely an easier matter to re- 
spect myself, if I believe as the Scripture says, that 
I am made "a little lower than the angels," than if I 
fall in with what Thomas Carlyle contemptuously 
calls "the religion of frog-spawn." It exalts me 
unspeakably to feel that my life is from God, for God, 
to God. As the skeptic Theodore Parker said, " The 



TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE. 247 

greatest star after all is that at the little end of the 
telescope; the star that is looking, not looked at." 

O mighty brother soul of man, 
Where'er thou art, or low or high, 
Thy skyey arches, with exultant span, 
O'er-roof infinity. 

II. Know the possibilities of thy life. Not only do 
we come from God, but our kinship with him is 
manifest in many ways. 

(i) We ca7i think God's thoughts. In this fact lies 
the possibility of communion with him. We are 
able to contemplate the great verities which centre in 
him; such as life and immortality, judgment and 
glory. The fact that man can reason about the 
divine being, can pay tribute to moral responsibility, 
can determine " betwixt the worse and better reason," 
can argue/r^ and con as to retribution, is evidence of 
his kinship with God. '' I thank thee, O Father," 
said Kepler, watching the stars at night, '' that I am 
able to think thy thoughts after thee." It was this 
same feeling that moved David to exclaim, " When I 
consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the 
moon and stars which thou hast ordained, what is 
man, that thou art mindful of him?" Birds and in- 
sects do not watch the stars. Dogs and horses have no 
apprehension of duty. Such experiences are not pos- 
sible to the lower orders of life. 

(2) We can imitate the character of God. This is, 
indeed, the rationale of all character. " Be ye holy, 
saith the Lord, for I am holy." To the end that this 
process of imitation might be made the more practic- 
able, it pleased God to manifest himself in flesh and 
walk about among us. The Man Jesus is the fulness 



248 TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE. 

of the Godhead bodily. The highest aspiration pos- 
sible to a man is to be like him. In him we grow 
unto the full stature of a man. And herein we are 
infinitely exalted above all the lower orders. We do 
not speak of the character of a horse. We ask, " How 
many hands high is he ? Is he docile and spirited ?" 
and the like. But none of these requirements have 
any moral quality. Faith, virtue, knowledge, tem- 
perance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, 
charity — these things which find their fulness and 
perfection in God, are built into the character of man. 
To cultivate these is to realize the possibilities of our 
nature and make the most of ourselves. We are now 
sons of God, but it doth not yet appear what, in the 
processes of holy purpose and earnest endeavor, we 
shall be. 

(3) We are permitted to do the work of God. He 
is setting up his kingdom on the earth. The average 
man takes little or no cognizance of it. The streets 
are filled with busy people engaged in sordid pur- 
suits, most of whom appear to think that wealth, 
pleasure, and earthly distinction are the chiefest 
good. But these things pass away like mists before 
the morning sun. Here is our glorious franchise, — 
that we can stand beside the only-begotten Son of 
God in the great harvest field ; that we can thrust in 
the sickle and reap with him ; that after the labor of 
life we can enter into his joy. And, indeed, there is 
nothing higher than this possible to human nature. 
It is said that William Wykeham, who built a church 
for Edward I., carved over its doorway, " This work 
made William Wykeham." On being charged by 
the king with assuming an undeserved honor, he 
replied, " I meant not that I made the work, but that 



TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE. 249 

the work made me; forasmuch as, having been poor 
when I began, I now have a fat and bulging purse.'* 
If ever we deem ourselves necessary to the work of 
Christ's kingdom, let us reflect how easily he could 
get along without us, and how much it means that he 
is willing to employ us. His work dignifies us infin- 
itely ; it makes us. It was one of the sayings of Gen- 
eral Gordon, "If I were not permitted to participate 
in the work of Jesus Christ, I should be as worthless 
as an empty sack bumping on a camel's back." 

III. Know thy destiny. Born of God, participating 
with him in his great thoughts and gracious work, 
it is ours to abide with him forever. 

This means immortality. The argument for im- 
mortality has been made with success from many 
standpoints ; but what need, if we believe the word 
that is written, *' He breathed into our nostrils the 
breath of life." What can destroy the breath of God ? 
When Marius, the great Roman, was confronted, un- 
armed, by an assassin with knife in hand, he repelled 
him with the word, " Dost thou kill Marius ?" What 
can kill me if I am, indeed, a child of God ? In the 
necessity of the case I share in the immortality of him 
who created me. 

Here is heaven. We not only live forever, but we 
are to live with God. We are notified that the 
home has already been provided. " In my Father's 
house," said Jesus, "are many mansions; if it were 
not so I would have told you ; I go to prepare a place 
for you." Thus, it appears, God's house shall be our 
house ; and our Lord's joy shall be our joy for ever 
and ever. 

And best of all, promotion. If we have loved our 
Master's work in this present life, we shall find the 



250 TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE. 

pleasure of eternity in the pursuit of nobler tasks. 
Of heaven it is written, "There his servants do serve 
him." There will be no withdrawing from responsi- 
bility, no drawing back from the behest of duty. 
Responsibility will be privilege. Duty will be pleas- 
ure. The answer to the Master's voice of command 
w411 ever be, " Here am I, send me " ; " in the volume 
of the book it is written of me, 'I delight to do thy 
will.' " 

We have indicated the grounds on which a valid 
self-respect must rest. There is only one difficulty in 
the way of realizing these possibilities; that is sin. 
It is not necessary to enter into a theological discus- 
sion about it. No matter whence or how or why sin 
came : here it is. Here it is; perpetually making 
trouble between me and my conscience, between me 
and my fellow-men, between me and my God. Sin is 
like virus poisoning the blood. It enfeebles body 
and soul, so that notwithstanding my high birth, my 
noble aspirations and my splendid dreams of destiny, 
there is no self-respect possible to me while I am 
under the dominion of it. 

What shall I do then ? Get rid of sin, 
[a) Get rid of the record of the fnislivedpast. I have 
done those things which I ought not to have done, and 
left undone the things which I ought to have done. At 
this point, however, God has interposed. The cross 
stands before me. The pierced hands of the Re- 
deemer are stretched out. The blood cleanseth. 
Let us begin at the beginning; we can go no further 
until we have attended to this. An unforgiven sin- 
ner is like a convict w^earing a ball and chain. Cut 
loose, dear friend, from the sin-stained past, that you 
may realize the possibilities of your nature. You 



TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE. 251 

can never stand erect and hold up your head with 
this fearful burden of shame and sorrow bearing you 
down. Ask Christ to forgive. It is said of Chris- 
tian in the allegory, that when his bundle had rolled 
into the sepulchre at the foot of the cross, he " gave 
three leaps for joy and went on his way singing, 
* He hath given me joy for my sorrow and life by his 
death!'" 

(^) But when the past is cancelled we still stand 
in constant need of /ie/J> and inspiration. Whence shall 
they come? To this end the Holy Spirit is given 
unto us. He delivers us from the bondage, as Christ 
by his blood delivered us from the penalty, of sin. 
Let us go on then under the influence of the Spirit 
and build up character. Everything depends on the 
influence of the Spirit. With Christ as your Saviour 
and the Holy Spirit as your Paraclete, who shall lay 
anything to your charge ? What further shall stand 
in the way of self-respect ? When Stephen of Colonna 
was led forth a captive from his ancestral castle, his 
enemy asked, " Where is your fortress ?" He laid his 
hand upon his heart and answered, "Here!" Not 
until a man has discharged his duty to the very last 
atom, not until he has done to the very uttermost 
what he believes to be right, not until he has exhausted 
the last resource in delivering himself from sin, can 
he respect himself. 

If Christ is the only deliverer, then am I not true 
to myself until I have accepted him. If the Holy 
Spirit is the only helper, in the large duties and re- 
sponsibilities of life, then am I not true to myself 
until I have accepted him. Let us be honest in these 
matters and in everything else. Be true, my friend, 
to your convictions. Revere character. "Bring up 



252 TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE. 

the bottom of your life to the top of your light." 
Acknowledge the Christ who gave himself for you- 
Honor the Holy Ghost. Then you can reasonably 
respect yourself. Then will no man despise you. 



THE CREED OF THE MOUNT. 

" And seeing the multitudes he went up into a mountain : and when he was set' 
his disciples came unto him : and he opened his mouth, and taught them, 
saying."— Matt, v., 1-2. 

We are thus introduced to the Sermon on the 
Mount which is spoken of as a wonderful sermon. 
Why not? It was uttered by the most wonderful of 
preachers, who spake as one having authority with 
respect to all the great problems of the eternal life. 
On one occasion a company of temple guards was 
sent to arrest him as he was teaching in Solo- 
mon's Porch. They came and listened, and returned 
without their prisoner. " Why have ye not brought 
him? "asked the Pharisees. Their, reply was a trib- 
ute to the eloquence of Jesus such as was never paid to 
any other, — " Never man spake like this man ! " 

But wonderful as is this Sermon on the Mount, it 
is possible, nevertheless, to exaggerate its relative im- 
portance in the great body of moral and religious truth. 
Ian Maclaren errs in this respect in "The Mind of the 
Master," where he suggests it as a sufficient creed for 
an ecclesiastical body. His Vvrords are : "No church 
since the early centuries has had the courage to 
formulate an ethical creed, for even those bodies of 
Christians which have no written theological creeds, 
yet have implicit affirmations or denials of doctrine 

(253) 



254 THE CREED OF THE MOUNT. 

as their basis. Imagine a body of Christians who 
should take their stand on the sermon of Jesus, and 
conceive their creed on his lines. Imagine how it 
would read, * I believe in the Fatherhood of God ; I 
believe in the words of Jesus ; I believe in the clean 
heart ; I believe in the service of love ; I believe in 
the unworldly life ; I believe in the Beatitudes ; I 
promise to trust God and follow Christ, to forgive 
my enemies and to seek after the righteousness of 
God.' Could any form of words be more elevated, 
more persuasive, more alluring ? Do they not thrill 
the heart and strengthen the conscience ? Liberty of 
thought is allowed ; liberty of sinning is alone denied. 
Who would refuse to sign this creed ? They would 
come from the east, and the west, and the north, and 
the south to its call and even they who would hesi- 
tate to bind themselves to a crusade so arduous would 
admire it, and long to be worthy." 

In pursuance of this suggestion, a circular letter 
has been addressed to ministers generally, requesting 
them *'to bring the Life Creed to the attention of 
their congregations," I desire now to give my rea- 
sons for personally withholding my endorsement of 
this movement, and to indicate why I for one am not 
willing to receive the Sermon on the Mount as pre- 
sented in condensed and crystallized form in the " Life 
Creed " as a sufficient basis for a federation of be- 
lievers in Christ. 

I. It was not so intended by Christ hiinself. He came 
into the world to set up a kingdom of truth and right- 
eousness. He was thirty years in preparation for his 
work. He then entered upon his ministry, and, at 
the outset, gathering his few disciples about him, he 
delivered his inaugural, The Sermon on the Mount 



THE CREED OF THE MOUNT. 255 

is the inaugural address of the King. In it he sets 
forth certain principles which are to rule in the lives 
of all who shall be citizens in the commonwealth of 
God. They are to be poor in spirit, meek, merciful, 
nobly aspiring, pure in heart, peacemakers and patient 
sufferers for the truth's sake. " Ye are the salt of the 
earth," he says, " but if the salt have lost its savor, 
wherewith shall it be salted ? it is thenceforth good 
for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden 
under foot of men." And again, ''Ye are the light 
of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be 
hid. Let your light so shine before men, that they 
may see your good works, and glorify God." It must 
be apparent, however, that important as these pre- 
cepts and principles are, they do not exhaust the 
gospel and were not designed to do so. 

On April 30, 1789, George Washington entered 
upon his first administration as President of the 
United States. In front of the national building at 
the corner of Wall and Nassau Streets, in this city, 
he delivered an inaugural address, which was full of 
sound political sense. If a man, however, were to 
suggest that his address upon that occasion contained 
all that was necessary to furnish the political stan- 
dards of our Republic, so that the Declaration of In- 
dependence, the Constitution, the enactments of our 
legislatures and decisions of our courts are all unim- 
portant, we should regard him as a foolish fellow. So, 
without minimizing the splendid significance of the 
Sermon on the Mount, we say that it, is not enough 
to furnish an exhaustive and conclusive creed for the 
universal Church of God. 

II. // is too severe. The friends of the new move- 
ment seem to suppose that the Sermon on the Mount 



256 THE CREED OF THE MOUNT. 

is an expression of the divine love and tenderness. 
It is on the other liand distinctly legal. It is law, 
law, and only law from beginning to end. 

It is spoken of as an " ethical creed." The phrase 
is incongruous. An ethical creed is a distinct contra- 
diction of terms, A creed is one thing ; a code is 
another. Doctrines and moral precepts are not iden- 
tical. They run in parallel lines ; they complement 
and supplement each other, but they are in no wise 
synonymous. Let that pass, however. The important 
fact is that a church founded upon a constitution of 
pure ethics would be a prison house of fear and 
sorrow. 

The Sermon on the Mount is a clear echo of the 
deliverances of Sinai. " I am come," said Jesus, " not 
to destroy the law but to fulfill it." It places a start- 
ling emphasis upon the law. It is searching as fire. 
It is penetrating as acid. Listen to this : "Ye have 
heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou 
shalt not kill : But I say unto you. That whosoever 
is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be 
in danger of the judgment ; and whosoever shall say 
to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the coun- 
cil ; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in 
danger of hell fire." And again, "Ye have heard 
how it was said by tljem of old time, Thou shalt not 
commit adultery : but I say unto you. That whoso- 
ever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath com- 
mitted adultery with her already in his heart." And 
again, "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and 
cast it from thee ; and if thy right hand offend thee, 
cut it off, and cast it from thee ; for it is profitable 
for thee that one of thy members should perish, and 
not that thy whole body should be cast into heU." 



THE CREED OF THE MOUNT. 257 

And observe, there is not one word of redemptive 
mercy in this sermon. If a man would live by the 
law, he must keep it. If a man break the law, he 
shall die by it. So far as we have to do with the Ser- 
mon on the Mount, there is no power of pardon in aton- 
ing blood, and there is therefore no deliverance from 
sin Here is the end of it: " Whosoever heareth these 
sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto 
a wise man which built his house upon a rock: and 
the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds 
blew and beat upon that house ; and it fell not ; for it 
was founded upon a rock. And whoso heareth these 
sayings of mine and doeth them not, shall be likened 
unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the 
sand: and the rain descended and the floods came and 
the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell ; 
and great was the fall of it." 

III. The Sermon o?t the Mount is a mere fragment of 
the teachings of Christ. Why should we discriminate 
in favor of this sermon as against all his other words ? 
Christianity means loyalty to Christ every way. The 
Christian is one who calls Christ his Lord and Master, 
and finds in him a tribunal of last appeal in all mat- 
ters touching his faith and conduct. If we are moved 
by sound sense, and not mere sentiment, in saying that 
the words of Jesus shall furnish forth our creed, then 
why confine our devotion to this Sermon on the 
Mount ? Why not include his address to the woman at 
the well ? Or is there an offense for ritualists in the 
words, '* I say unto you. The hour cometh when neither 
in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, shall ye wor- 
ship the Father ; for God is a spirit ; and they that 
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth "? 
And why not receive his conversation with Nicodemus 



258 THE CREED OF THE MOUNT. 

as an essential part of our creed ? Is it because the 
two fundamental doctrines of regeneration and atone- 
ment are there ? " Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Ex- 
cept a man be born again, he shall not see the kingdom 
of God," and, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life." And why exclude his arraign- 
ment of the scribes and Pharisees? "Woe unto you 
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! who make clean 
the outside of the platter; who pay tithe of mint, anise 
and cummin, and neglect the weightier matters of the 
law. Ye are as whited sepulchres ; fair without, but 
within full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. 
O generation of vipers ! How shall ye escape the dam- 
nation of hell?" 

And shall we exclude those parables in which 
our Lord sets forth the sterner side of the divine 
character ; such as the parable of the talents, of the 
winnowing of the wheat, of the separation of the 
sheep and the goats, of Dives and Lazarus, of the 
ten virgins, of the man that had not on the wedding 
garment ? These are fearful words, but the Master 
uttered them : " The worm that dieth not," " The fire 
that is not quenched," "The outer darkness where 
there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of 
teeth." Nor must we discriminate against the sermon 
in the upper chamber: "In my Father's house are 
many mansions." But if that be received, then the 
Arians must be ruled out of our Christian federation 
for it is in that discourse that our Lord says, " He 
that hath seen me hath seen the Father ; and how 
sayest thou then. Show us the Father? Believest 
thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in 



THE CREED OF THE MOUNT. 259 

me ? " Nor must we slight the sermon of Jesus on the 
Mount of Ascension in which he emphasized the im- 
portance of the great propaganda, saying, " All power 
is given unto me, in heaven and on earth. Go ye, 
therefore ; and evangelize ; and, lo, I am with you al- 
way even unto the end of the world." All these and 
the other discourses of Jesus are to be received in the 
making of our creed if we are loyal to him. It will 
not answer to take a fragment of his teaching and 
build our faith upon it. 

IV. The Sermon on the Mount is tvorthless for practi- 
cal purposes without a personal faith in Christ We must 
believe that there is a God ; a personal Lawgiver be- 
hind the law. We must believe that Christ is his 
accredited ambassador, who has authority to declare 
the mind of his Father among men. We must believe 
also in the Holy Spirit as the Executive who trans- 
mits these truths through the centuries and propa- 
gates them through that great living organism, the 
Church, made up of all the followers of the Christ. 
Unless we have confidence in these verities, the Ser- 
mon on the Mount must be meaningless to us. Yet 
what are we saying ? "I believe ? " Credo ? This 
is indeed the formulation of a creed, and ethics is 
valueless without it. "I believe in God the Father; 
I believe in Jesus Christ ; I believe in the Holy 
Ghost " ; this is substantially the Apostles' Creed, 
the historic symbol of the church of all ages. It is 
preeminently foolish to speak of ethics without a 
creed. We should by ethics alone be brought into 
legal bondage. 

We would not think of making such a proposi- 
tion in any other province than that of the relig- 
ious life. There are those who call themselves 



2 6o THE CREED OF THE MOUNT. 

"ethical Christians"; but the folly of their posi- 
tion is evident when we regard the character of 
certain "ethical " citizens with whom we are familiar 
in our civil life. There is a multitude of lewd fel- 
lows of the baser sort, who can only be kept in 
order by the restraints of law. You may find an 
illustration of ethical citizenship in the chain gang ; 
men who work with a ball and chain upon their 
ankles, expiating the broken law. Let it be borne in 
mind continually that ethics makes slaves ; it is the 
truth that makes free. Alas for a man who, in either 
church or state, is no better than the law makes him ! 

V. And, finally, we regard the Sermon on the 
Mount as in itself inadequate to meet the purposes 
for a creed, because there must be outside of this sei'fnon 
an ultimate authority somewhere. We want verification^ 
How do I know, indeed, that Jesus ever uttered the 
Sermon on the Mount ? 

There are four tribunals to which we may appeal 
for decisive authority. The first is the Pope. The 
decree of papal infallibility was required as a logical 
necessity in the Romish Church. The Pope is the 
court of last appeal in matters of faith and doctrine, 
and unless he is infallible, his power must inevitably 
pass from him. 

The second is the Church. Prelacy holds that the 
voice of the Church is ultimate in all matters ethical 
and theological. But, unfortunately, the Church has 
no voice. Its voices in history have been like Babel. 
It was one section of the Church that protested against 
the error of the mass ; and it was another section 
of the Church that pulled the bell-rope of St. Ger- 
main, and gave the signal on St. Bartholomew's night 
to massacre those who made that protest. 



THE CREED OF THE MOUNT. 261 

The third authority is the inner sense. This might 
answer if it were not a fact that no two have the 
same personal experience. It is not enough for me 
to say, "I feel that Jesus said it," because the next 
man may declare, " I feel that Jesus never said it." 
There is only one doctrine that is more preposterous 
than papal infallibility, and that is personal infallibil- 
ity. Reason cannot stand alone ; it must have some- 
thing to lean on. 

Fourth, the Bible. Here is a " Thus saith the Lord." 
The first thing for an earnest man to do is to satisfy 
himself whether the Bible is a true book or not. If 
that question be settled affirmatively, then he must 
needs take the Scriptures to be his infallible rule of 
faith and practice. The Sermon on the Mount will 
be a portion of his creed. All the other discourses 
of Jesus will have like importance, and will enter 
into his creed. All the remainder of the Book will 
have a corresponding value, because the entire Scrip- 
tures were written by holy men as they were moved 
by the Spirit of Christ. The words of Scripture are 
the breathings of Christ. We have no reason to say 
that the words that fell from his fleshly lips are more 
holy than the words which he has otherwise inspired. 
He holds himself responsible for all. The word is 
"All Scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, 
for correction, for instruction in righteousness ; that 
the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished 
unto all good works." 

Here then we have our authority. Here is a 
complete creed, and here is a complete code of ethics. 
And here also is the living Christ, the Exemplar of 
truth and morals. On the seal of the Church of the 
Reformation is an open Bible, over it the name of 



262 THE CREED OF THE MOUNT. 

Jehovah with the words veritate and pietate j that is, 
a divine and, therefore, infallible rule of faith and 
practice. Our creed is the entire Scriptures ; noth- 
ing more and nothing less. They were given for 
this very purpose. And the Master laid his most 
emphatic endorsement upon them in this relation 
when he said, " Search the Scriptures, for in them ye 
think ye have eternal life, and these are they which 
testify of me." 



THE CHURCH. 

"Ye are built upon the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being- the 
chief corner-stone ; in whom all the building, fitly framed together, 
groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord."— Eph. ii. 20. 

We are accustomed to think of Paul as a dry 
dialectician, a mere theologian or doctrinaire. It is a 
mistake. He was a splendid poet with an extraordi- 
nary development of the logical faculty. He could 
handle a metaphor with as much skill as a syllogism. 
Word-pictures bespangle his discussions of abstruse 
themes like stars on a deep blue sky. 

He was familiar with the customs of the Roman 
soldiery, and accordingly he represents life as a cam- 
paign. It is a continuous succession of battles with 
the world and the flesh and the devil. " Put ye on 
the whole armor of God, therefore, that ye may be 
able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done 
all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt 
about with truth, and having on the breastplate of 
righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation 
of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of 
faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the 
fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet 
of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the 
Word of God." Thus armed and panoplied, 

Fight on, my soul, till death 

Shall bring thee to thy God; 
He'll take thee, at thy parting breath, 

Up to his blest abode. 
(263) 



264 THE CHURCH. 

He had seen the Greek games; for there was a sta- 
dium in Tarsus which he must have frequented more or 
less in his early days. He paints life accordingly as a 
struggle for mastery. He sees the contestants stripped 
to the waist, their feet at the scarlet line, their bodies 
bent forward with every muscle tense, their eyes upon 
the distant goal. The trumpet sounds and they are 
off ! "I count not myself to have apprehended, but 
this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are 
behind, and reaching forth unto those things which 
are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of 
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." And again, 
"Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which 
doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience 
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the 
author and finisher of our faith; who, for the joy that 
was set before him, endured the cross, despising the 
shame, and is set down at the right hand of the 
throne of God." 

Paul knew about agriculture also and writes not un- 
frequently like a farmer's boy. To him life is sowing 
and reaping: "Ye are God's husbandry," he says; 
and, " Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for what- 
soever a man soweth that shall he also reap." He 
dwells much on fruit and fruitfulness. The fifteenth 
chapter of First Corinthians — that wonderful chapter 
on the resurrection— has been characterized as an 
"Agricultural Allegory." He speaks of God's Acre as 
a field sown with the ashes of the sleeping dead who are 
to arise in newness of life. " But some man will say, 
'How are the dead raised up?' Thou fool! that 
which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: 
and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that 
body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of 



THE CHURCH. 265 

wheat, or of some other grain: but God giveth it a body 
as it has pleased him. So also is the resurrection of 
the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in in- 
corruption; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; 
it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is 
sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." 
Ah, what a golden field is that and what a song of 
harvest home shall be heard on the resurrection 
morning ! 

In our context the artist betrays an acquaintance 
with the architectural methods of his time. Life is 
structural. He uses the word edify nineteen times in 
his epistles to the Churches. The word is cognate 
with edifice; its primary reference is to temple build- 
ing, and hence its application to character. " Ye are 
God's building," the Apostle says. He is not speak- 
ing now, however, of the individual, but of the asso- 
ciation of believers in the Church of God. 

The Christians of Ephesus would instantly under- 
stand the reference here. They lived under the 
shadow of Diana's Temple, one of the seven wonders 
of the world. It was four hundred feet long and 
above two hundred feet wide, and was two hundred 
and twenty years in building. Its roofs were sup- 
ported by sixty-seven columns of green jasper, eight 
of which of which may be seen to-day in the Mosque 
of St. Sophia. Its altar was designed by Praxiteles. 
Its walls were adorned by Apelles and Parrhasius. 
Its sanctuary was so safe that kings were wont to de- 
posit their valuables there. Erostratus made himself 
immortal by setting fire to its dome. Alexander of- 
fered the spoils of an eastern campaign for the privilege 
of inscribing his name above one of the portals, and 
was refused. The title of Neocorus^ or Sweeper of the 



266 THE CHURCH. 

Temple, was coveted and competed for by various 
cities. The dome of this magnificent fabric was sur- 
mounted by an image of Diana catching the sunlight 
in her golden shield. In sight of this temple, within 
the hearing of its elaborate worship, dwelt a humble 
body of believers in Christ. To them the Apostle 
writes in terms of encouragement: "Ye are the living 
parts of a grander fabric, whose glory shall endure 
when the walls of the temple of great Diana have 
crumbled to dust. Ye are built upon the apostles 
and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief 
corner-stone ; in whom all the building, fitly framed 
together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord." 

Here is the theme, therefore, w^hich engages our 
thought: I believe in the holy Catholic Church, a spir- 
itual house, a house not made with hands, built of God. 

I. Observe, the cornier stone is Christ. The en- 
gineers of the Palestine Exploration Fund, by sink- 
ing shafts and opening galleries along the walls 
of the temple, came upon the original foundations. 
They are seventy feet below the surface, and rest 
upon the rocky slopes of Moriah. At the lowest angle 
of this temple area they discovered the corner-stone. 
It was four feet thick and fourteen broad, and its fine 
finish was almost unimpaired. It is not improbable 
that the prophet Isaiah had this very stone in mind 
w^hen he uttered the Messianic prediction, " Behold, I 
lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a 
precious corner-stone." The first place, deepest down, 
most rudimental and fundamental, binding the walls 
together and upholding the whole, — this is reserved 
for Christ. 

I. The name of the Church is eloquent of this fact^ 
"What's in a name?' Everything here. Call the 



THE CHURCH. 267 

Church whatever you please, it is Christian above all. 
All other names, Greek and Latin, Catholic and 
Protestant, Lutheran, Calvinistic and Wesleyan, are 
subordinate to that Name which is above every other 
that is named in heaven or on earth. All tribal 
banners are furled under the banner of the Lion of 
Judah. 

Here is the touchstone of ecclesiastical legitimacy. 
It has just been decided in one of the Massachusetts 
courts — in a case brought by the Theosophists to se- 
cure exemption from taxation on their meeting-hall — 
that an organization, in order to be called '* religious," 
must show that it believes in the living God. But 
with reference to the Christian Church the lines are 
drawn closer still. It is not enough that an ecclesias- 
tical body shall be religious in order to justify its 
claim to the fellowship of the Holy Catholic Church; 
it must give evidence that it believes in Christ, that 
it accepts his divine birth, his Messiahship, his blood- 
atonement, his resurrection, and his word as law 
every way. 

2. Here, also, is clearly indicated the purpose or in- 
tent of the Church. Why did Christ institute it ? What 
is it intended for? It is not a social coterie, though 
many people make it so. Neither is it a benevolent or- 
ganization, though the tendency of much of the soci- 
ological discussion of our time points that way. The 
primary purpose of the Church was not charity, car- 
ing for the poor, visiting the fatherless and the wid- 
ows in their affliction. This is incidental ; vitally so, 
to be sure, but merely incidental to a larger, nobler 
end. Nor is the Church a theological symposium. 
All Christians who are worthy of the name, are pro- 
foundly concerned to discover the truth. It is indeed 



268 THE CHURCH. 

the noblest quest, but the purpose of the Church goes 
deeper and higher still. 

What is this purpose ? To set up the kingdom of 
Jesus Christ on earth. We believe that he came from 
heaven to suffer and die for the children of men ; we 
believe that he rose triumphant, and now sits upon his 
throne high and lifted up; we believe that by the power 
of his Spirit he is working through this great living 
organism, which we call " The Church," for the restitu- 
tion of all things; and we believe that in the fulness of 
time the heavens will part asunder, and he will come to 
reign King over all and blessed forever. To this end 
the Church was instituted ; to this end its ministry was 
commissioned, " Go ye into all the world and evangel- 
ize " ; and to this end the injunction is laid upon all 
Christ's people, *' Let your light so shine among men 
thac they may see your good works, and glorify God." 
What shall I preach then ? Christ, and him cruci- 
fied. Nothing else? Nothing else. Whatever my 
theme, it must be like a thoroughfare leading to the 
cross. "The Jews require a sign, and the Greeks 
seek after wisdom ; but we preach Christ crucified, 
unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks 
foolishness ; but unto them which believe, Christ the 
power of God, and the wisdom of God." As an am- 
bassador of Jesus Christ, my sole business is to mag- 
nify my Saviour's name, and to exalt him who said, 
"I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." 

And how shall Christians live? As those whose 
lives are hid with Christ in God. Our religion is 
purely a personal relation with Christ. We have 
accepted Christ as the Jews in the wilderness, with 
the hot virus throbbing in their veins, looked to the 
brazen serpent for life. We have consented to cleanse 



THE CHURCH. 269 

ourselves from sin in the fountain filled with blood, 
as Naaman dipped in the Jordan seven times until his 
flesh became like the flesh of a little child. We have 
given ourselves to Christ in a consecration entire and 
unreserved, as the magi laid their golden myrrh and 
frankincense before him. We follow him as the sheep 
follows the shepherd, as a tourist follows his Alpine 
guide, as a child follows its mother, as a soldier fol- 
lows his captain to the high places of the field. We 
abide in him as the branch abides in the vine, so that 
the parent life pervades and energizes it. We feed 
upon Christ as the Israelites fed upon the manna that 
dropped from heaven about their feet. For so it is 
written, "Except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood 
of the Son of Man, ye have no life in you." We 
receive Christ at his exact word in such a manner 
that his precepts are our last tribunal, and his prom- 
ises are like the rounds of the ladder that Jacob saw, 
on which angels ascended with his prayers, and de- 
scended with blessings upon him. This is the signifi- 
cance of the primacy in our ecclesiastical and per- 
sonal life. He is 

My Lord, my life, my sacrifice, 
My Saviour and my all. 

II. The foundation. The Church is here said to be 
founded upon the apostles and prophets ; that is, the 
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. It rests 
upon the truths handed down through the apostles 
and prophets from God. 

I wonder whether those who are engaged in under- 
mining faith in the Scriptures are aware what they 
are doing ? "If the foundations be destroyed, what 
shall the righteous do ? " The only Christ we have is 



270 THE CHURCH. 

the Christ revealed in the Scriptures. To impair their 
credibility, is to impugn the only historical witnesses 
that bear testimony to the religion of Christ. Some 
of these destroyers are among the professed followers 
of the Lord Jesus, but surely they do not follow him 
in this ; for he never uttered a word in contravention 
of the plenary truth of the Bible, but was ever ready 
to vindicate and uphold it. " Search the Scriptures," 
he said, " for in them ye think ye have eternal life, 
and these are they which testify of me." 

But how do the Scriptures serve as a foundation 
of the Church ? In furnishing ali that is needful 
for its organization and effectiveness every way. 
Herbert Spencer says that two things are necessary in 
order to a working Church, namely, creed and cultus. 
The Scriptures furnish the creed^ the body of truth; 
they also furnish the cultus, or mode of worship; and 
this as given by inspiration is intensely simple. The 
beauty of holiness is the service of the heart; form is 
relatively of slight import. " When I make my 
prayers, shall I sit or kneel or stand upon my feet ? ' 
This is precisely like the question asked of Sir Thomas 
Moore by his executioner: " Sir, does your head lie 
right upon the block?" He answered, "No matter 
about my head so that my heart be right." Let us 
stand by Scripture in this matter of cultus, taking 
heed of unnecessary form and ceremony which is but 
superfluity of naughtiness. " For whatsoever is not 
of faith is of sin." 

But something more than creed and cultus is 
needed in the making of a Church. We need a perfect 
Code of Morals 2,r\6. find it in the Decalogue and the 
Sermon on the Mount plus the personal example of 
Jesus the ideal Man. Also, a Course of Action, or cam- 



THE CHURCH. 27 I 

paign if you will. This is clearly marked out in the 
Scriptures. What is the business of those who belong 
to the Church of God ? It is to seek first of all the 
kingdom of God and his righteousness. As we walk 
along the street, we mingle with two classes of people, 
who look alike but are separated by an infinite gulf; 
on the one hand those who are absorbed in the pur- 
suit of wealth, pleasure or other personal emolu- 
ments, and know nothing higher than the things of 
this present life; who "■ forever hastening to the grave 
stoop downward as they run": on the other hand 
those who believe in the coming of the Son of Man 
and mean to do all in their power to hasten it. They 
also are engaged in bread-and-butter tasks, but the 
things of the kingdom are supreme, and their prime 
purpose is to hasten its coming on earth and in the 
lives of men. 

By this it appears that the Church rests upon the 
trustworthiness of the Scriptures as the Word of God. 
No foundation, no house; no Bible, no Church. Stand 
by the Bible, therefore, my friend, even though others 
malign it. They are on the losing side. The old 
Book has stood like Gibraltar for thousands of years, 
and will stand for thousands more. It is not only the 
foundation of the Church, it is the hope of your per- 
sonal eternal life. Stand by the Bible ! John Knox 
spoke truly when admonished of the wrath of Queen 
Mary as he was going to Holyrood with a blue Gen- 
evan cloak over his shoulder and a Bible under his 
arm : "All hell," said he,"cannot prevail against the man 
that has in his lefthand acandle to illuminatehis right." 
Stand by your Bible ! Read it, pray overit, love it and 
live by it. All dust is bad for human eyes, but the 
worst is that which gathers on our neglected Bibles. 



272 THE CHURCH. 

III. The Superstructure. "Ye are built upon it*'; 
that is, ye are the stones of the temple. At this point 
Peter comes to Paul's help— as he should indeed; for 
despite all differences of temperament and culture they 
were firm friends — saying, " Ye also as living stones 
are built up a spiritual house." 

There were wonderful stones in the old temple of 
Moriah; Josephus mentions them in his Antiquities. 
Some of them, he says, were twenty-five cubits by 
twelve; that is, forty by twenty feet. It would seem 
incredible if it were not that some are still there. By 
what engineering skill were those ponderous masses 
lifted into place ? Wonderful stones! But the stones 
of God's spiritual temple are more marvelous, for they 
are endowed with life. " Ye also as living stones are 
built up a spiritual house." 

This means that Christians must do something 
more than merely lie in their places. It means that 
Church membership is not merely a name on a roster. 
There is nothing in the world more lamentable than 
a dead profession. A week ago our Navy Depart- 
ment sent out a message warning all outgoing ships 
against the derelict schooner which has recently been 
seen drifting about in the Northern Pacific. The 
name of this derelict is the "Siglin." She sailed with a 
crew of eleven and a cargo of valuable merchandise. 
Her masts are gone and, as the declaration says, "a 
dead man is lashed to her helm." Dead men down 
below, dead men lying on the decks, a dead man 
lashed to the helm! What a grim figure is there of a 
church devoted to the mere letter of truth or liturgy 
or ethics. Set over against that picture this temple 
of living stones. " I am come that ye might have 
life and that ye might have it more abundantly," 



THE CHURCH. 273 

said our Master. *' And you hath he quickened which 
were dead in trespasses and sins." 

The life here referred to is manifest in the relation 
of the Church member to Christ. Every stone of the 
temple pants toward him as if it had a heart within 
it. The bricks of the old Ninevite temple are all 
marked with the cartouche of contemporary kings, 
but the stones of this temple have been touched by 
the finger of their Lord, thrilled through and through 
with the electric power of his life. 

It is manifest also in the fellowship of believers. 
The stones of the temple stretch forth hands inwardly 
as if to bear one another's burdens, as if to lay a bene- 
diction each upon the other, and all the temple rings 
with their sympathetic chorus, '' Blest be the tie that 
binds our hearts in Christian love." 

The life is also manifest in service. The hands of 
these living stones are stretched forth from the wall 
ontwardly to help a suffering, dying world, and voices 
are heard calling from the wall like voices of life- 
savers on the shore in a dark night, " Throw out the 
life-line!" 

What a picture of a living church is this! Every 
part of the structure palpitates with life and energy. 
Every stone in the building calls out to Christ, to its 
fellows and to the world. The voice of praise, the voice 
of prayer, the voice of exhortation is here, and over 
all and about all is the atmosphere of heaven resonant 
with hallelujahs! 

IV. And the Church thus constituted ^'' groweth'' — 
''groweth unto a holy temple of the Lord." The 
word is not such as was customarily used for a grow- 
ing fabric; that is, one which grows by mere accre- 
tion, as thread upon thread in a loom, or stone upon 



274 THE CHURCH. 

stone in a building. But the word has reference to 
organic growth; that is, of vegetable or animal life. 
The temple is represented here as growing because it 
has life in it. 

The growth of the Church is measured by that of 
the individual believers who constitute it. God's life 
is the germinating principle. This is the influence 
referred to by Paul where he speaks of the whole 
body as being fitly joined together, and compacted 
by that which every joint supplieth, according to 
the effectual working in the measure of every part, 
"making increase of the body unto the edifying of it- 
self in love." 

But apart from the growth of individual believers, 
there is a distinct growth of the mighty coherent unit 
which we call "The Holy Catholic Church." This 
growth is History. The ultimatum of history is the 
coming of the Son of God to possess his Church and 
reign through it. In the walls of the ancient temple 
of Jerusalem there are certain marks which indicate 
the successive periods of construction. The upper 
portions were built three or four centuries ago under 
the Sultan Suleiman, but below that, and clearly- 
separated, are other parts running back to the fourth 
century of the Christian Era, Still farther down are 
portions which belong to the period of Herod, and 
lower yet are the repairs made on the return from 
captivity; while lowest of all on the bed rock of Mount 
Moriah, seventy feet beneath the surface, are the found- 
ation stones that were laid by Solomon. Thus, from 
beneath the work may be traced through the centuries 
to the very top stone of the corner. But here the anal- 
ogy fails, for the Christian Church is not completed. 
We note a constant progress from the beginning, with 



THE CHURCH. 275 

some periods of rough work indeed, but never aught 
but progress; nevertheless we still await the day when 
the top stone shall be laid with shouts of " Grace, 
grace unto it! " 

In the eleventh year of the reign of Solomon 
the temple was dedicated to the Lord. The priests 
and Levites, with the hereditary heads of all the 
tribes, assembled in the holy city. The tabernacle 
was brought from Gibeon, old and worn and weather- 
beaten. With much pomp and circumstance the 
boards and pillars and curtains were carried upon 
the shoulders of the Levites up the slopes of the holy 
hill. Yonder came a group of Levites bearing the 
brazen altar ; yonder another with the table of shew 
bread ; another with the golden candlestick upon 
their shoulders. Loud hosannas gave welcome to 
these historic memorials of God's providence and 
grace. " O that men would praise the Lord for his 
goodness and for his wonderful works to the children 
of men." Yonder they came bringing the Ark of the 
Covenant, the visible token of the divine presence ; 
priests and Levites sang together in welcome : " Lift 
up your heads, O ye gates ; and be ye lifted up, ye 
everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in!" 
The choirs in the great galleries of the temple re- 
sponded one to another: " Who is this King of glory ? 
The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory." In the 
midst sat Solomon upon his throne, his archers about 
him with golden shields and clad in Tyrian purple. 
Then something occurred in the midst of the festivities, 
whereat all were instantly silent. Out from the cur- 
tain of fine twined linen hanging before the Holiest 
of All came a fleece of golden mist that flowed out- 
ward and upward, expanding until it obscured and 



276 THE CHURCH. 

enveloped all. It was the Shekinah, the glory of the 
Lord. Deep silence! And the king knelt with his 
face toward heaven, and blessed the people. 

The time is approaching when Christ shall come in 
like manner, appearing in the open heavens, and mak- 
ing his influence felt throughout the earth, when the 
great angel shall proclaim " The tabernacle of God is 
among men, and he shall dwell among them and be 
their God, and they shall be his people." 

Arise, O King of saints, arise, 

And enter to Thy rest : 
Lo, Thy Church waits with longing eyes, 

Thus to be owned and blest. 
Enter with all Thy glorious train, 

Thy Spirit and Thy word ; 
All that the ark did once contain 

Could no such peace afford. 
Here let the Son of David reign, 

Let God's anointed shine, 
Justice and truth His court maintain, 

With love and power divine. 

The Lord is in his holy temple ; let all the earth 
keep silence before him! 



IN THE FIELDS AT EVENTIDE. 

** And Isaac went out to meditate in the fields at eventide." — Gen. xxiv. 63. 

We know little of Isaac. He was one of the 
ancient nobodies, the son of one great man and the 
father of another, and he lived a hundred and eighty 
years. Two things, however, make him illustrious: 
one is, he was the Child of the Covenant, of whom 
God had said to Abraham, " In thy seed shall all the 
nations of the earth be blessed." The other is an inci- 
dent that occurred in his youth. One morning his 
father awakened him early, laid a bundle of sticks 
upon his arms, and himself took a knife and a brazier 
full of coals; and as they set forth, he said, "We go 
to sacrifice." The two climbed the slopes of Mount 
Moriah, and after a time the lad asked, " Where is the 
lamb for a burnt offering?" The question must have 
pierced the father's heart like a knife, for he had re- 
ceived a command from heaven to slay his only son; 
but he answered, " God will provide himself a lamb 
for a burnt offering." As they neared their desti- 
nation, however, he told Isaac the truth. The lad 
acquiesced and suffered himself to be bound and 
made ready for the altar. In all this he was a 
living type of the victim of the cross. It may be 
that his vision was dim, yet he must have learned 

(277) 



278 IN THE FIELDS AT EVENTIDE 

that this was a prophetic silhouette of the great 
atonement in which Christ was to be led as a lamb 
to the slaughter: — "God so loved the world that 
he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life." 

This was enough for a single life. His one hun- 
dred and eighty years were otherwise uneventful. 
He was a loving son, an affectionate husband, a kind 
and perhaps over-indulgent father. He was of a 
sunny and hopeful disposition, worthy of his name> 
"The Son of Laughter." He lived a busy, honest, 
humble life. 

And here we see him meditating in the fields at 
eventide. Meditating of what ? Of his broad acres ? 
For his was a great inheritance and he showed him- 
self wise to turn an honest penny. Or was he think- 
ing of the covenant and the coming of the Christ? 
Or was he dreaming of wedlock ? For his father's 
servant had recently gone to Mesopotamia to bring 
from thence a wife for Isaac, and even at this hour 
the young Rebekah was approaching, in whose breast 
were throbbing the uncertain hopes and fears of an 
Oriental bride. Up and down over his fields he 
walked and thought. The sun was going down, the 
birds were seeking their nests. He was alone with 
himself and God. 

A man is at his very best in such an attitude as 
this, meditating in the fields at eventide. This is our 
theme, the importance of thoughtfulness. 

I. Think. Think for yourself; let no man do your 
thinking for you. We are bipartite beings, made up 
of body and mind, — mind here including the will and 
conscience as well as the reasoning powers. The 



IN THE FIELDS AT EVENTIDE. 279 

mind is larger than the body, though in point of fact 
we do not make it so. We are all the while asking, 
" What shall I eat ? " and, " What shall I drink ? " and, 
** Wherewithal shall I be clothed ?" The body keeps 
us busy most of our time, while in reality the mind is 
its master and incessantly clamors for the crown. 

We are much given in these times to an investiga- 
tion of psycho-physical phenomena, that is, the influ- 
ence of the mind over the body; and it is scarcely pos- 
sible to overestimate its influence. A butcher on First 
Avenue, not long ago, while on a step-ladder under 
his awning, fell against a meat hook, and as he heard 
it tear, shrieked out in anguish. He was taken into 
his shop and laid upon the floor, begging all the 
while for a priest to shrive him ere he died. On ex- 
amination it was found that the hook had torn his 
outer garments, not penetrating to the flesh at all. 
As soon as he knew the fact, he arose, picked up his 
cleaver and proceeded to his common task. Thus all 
the while the mind is asserting its domination over 
the body. The mind has a right to govern, for it is 
as much larger than the body as the sun is vaster 
than the mote that flies in a sunbeam. How impor- 
tant is it then that we should cease to be servants of 
the flesh, and give our mind, that is, the divine and 
immortal part, a chance to live. 

The underlying sin of all sins is thoughtlessness. 
Our vices and blunders are for the most part due to 
thoughtlessness. Our prisons and asylums are full of 
thoughtless people. You voted, perhaps, the wrong 
ticket at the last election, because you did not think. 
You have invested your money in losing ventures, 
because you did not think. You bought a Sunday 
newspaper this morning because you did not think, 



28o IN THE FIELDS AT EVENTIDE. 

though in fact God had admonished you in particu- 
lar to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. I 
could suggest a law that would empty one-half of our 
jails and reformatories, if only our legislators could 
be persuaded to enact it ; to wit, a law requiring 
every man to meditate alone one hour every day. 
The observance of such a law as that would mean 
disaster to the prince of darkness ; for men go to per- 
dition in eager procession, lock-step, quick-step, for 
want of thought. No man intends to die ; no man 
purposes to spend eternity in the outer darkness. 
Men die inadvertently ; but, alas, at the judgment 
there will be no room for the plea, "I didn't think.'' 
II. Go apart by yourself to think. We do not love 
solitude. The best two friends for me are God and 
myself ; it is strange that I should be so reluctant to 
look, them in the face. It was a clear discernment of 
human nature that led Cowper to sing : 

I praise the Frenchman ; his remark was shrewd : 
" How sweet, how passing sweet is solitude ! 
But grant me still a friend in my retreat, 
Whom I may whisper, .' Solitude is sweet.' " 

We are living in a busy world and in a busy age. 
We hurry to our tasks, and hurry away from them. 
We bolt our food, read a book in an evening, and 
abbreviate our rest. We want quick transit, steam 
and electricity; the art of ultimate arrival is the 
practical art of these days. We care to see nothing 
and hear nothing, but only to reach our destination. 
Yet there is something to be said for pedestrianism. 
The man who goes afoot alone may catch a glimpse 
of the fields, of the heavens above, and may hear the 
lark singing as it cleaves the air. But we cannot 
take time for this. We are too busy with the muck- 



IN THE FIELDS AT EVENTIDE. 251 

rake. The sound of the city's life comes this way 
and we are impatient to reach it. Alas for us ! 

" The world is too much with us ; late and soon, 
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers ! 
Little we see in Nature that is ours ; 
We have given our lives away, a sordid boon ! 
The sea, that bares her bosom to the moon, 
The winds, that will be howling at all hours, 
And are regathered now like sleeping flowers ; 
For this, for everything, we are out of tune. 
It moves us not. Great God ! I'd rather be 
A pagan, suckled in a creed outworn ; 
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, 
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn ; 
Have sight of Proteus, rising from the sea ; 
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn." 

Our English cousins are wont to speak of "an un- 
comfortable individuality" which they have discov- 
ered among us. So far, so good. There is nothing 
better than a true egoism. Jch bin ich. Barbarians 
all think alike. If we would rise to higher levels, if 
we would breathe a clearer air, we must cut loose 
from the bondage of tradition, of authority, and of 
fashion, and be ourselves. We cannot run with the 
multitude, and be true men. It is one thing to lift 
our voices in the general clamor, and another to be 
able to give a reason for the faith that is in us. The 
design of the seal of Vespasian was an anchor and a 
dolphin. He was asked what it meant. He said, 
" Fixed opinion and swift execution." What better 
could you find than that ? Convictions, that like an 
anchor grip the rock, and a swift spirit that speeds 
to its purpose as a fish cleaves the waters of the sea. 
But men never reach such distinction except as they 
enter the closet, and shut to the door. Truth 



252 IN THE FIELDS AT EVENTIDE. 

comes to the man who sets out by himself upon the 
noble quest, with no light but the light of revelation, 
and no restraint save in the authority of God. 

III. Think to some purpose. For what profit is it 
that a man should go apart and dream dreams and 
build castles in the air ? Or what profit is it that a 
man should lie in the night-watches brooding over 
old grudges, or walk in the fields at eventide specu- 
lating as to the unknowable ? A man may think 
he is thinking without thinking at all. 

It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of 
governing the thoughts. But can we govern them ? 
Aye; the will is sovereign in this province as elsewhere. 
He is a foolish man who complains that his thoughts run 
away with him. It was a wise saying of Luther, "We 
cannot prevent the birds flying over us, but we can 
prevent their building nests in our hair." The Scotch 
have a proverb, " Do wi' your ill thoughts as wi' your 
ill neebor ; dinna gie him a stool to sit on." It is im- 
portant here that we should choose our guests, for as 
a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. 

The objective point of profitable thinking is an 
idea. To get an idea is to find a bonanza. I remem- 
ber meeting, in my college days, an old man with 
long white hair, who was pre-eminently a man of one 
idea. While a workman in a mechanic's shop at nine 
dollars a week, he heard a conversation in which his 
employer said, "Why does not some one invent a 
sewing machine ? " The thought took hold of Elias 
Howe, and he meditated for years upon it. The thing 
could be done if only a needle could be threaded at 
its point. At last he evolved the sewing machine, 
and became thereby the benefactor of the race. 

One secret of success is attention. Our failures 



IN TliE FIELDS AT EVENTIDE. 283 

are largely due to a dissipation of energy. It is wise, 
therefore, in our seasons of meditation to converge 
our faculties, and so arrive at something definite. 
Life is too short for the scattering and squandering 
of strength. 

IV. Let us approach the highest themes. The highest 
themes are not such as concern our temporal good or 
the world's material welfare. There are truths that 
ever knock at our doors demanding our attention, yet 
likely to be disregarded amid the hurrying cares of 
earthly life. 

(i) There is the past. Take time, my friend, to 
look over your shoulder, and one thing you will be 
sure to see : — Sin. Sin upon sin ; neglect of duty, vi- 
olation of law. Sin — and what is this that follows 
after? A man committed a murder yesterday and 
escaped. Where is he now ? In hiding somewhere, 
crouching behind a wall and trembling at every foot- 
fall. Will he sleep to-night ? No. Retribution like a 
bloodhound will be baying after him ; remorse like 
a nightmare will bestride him ; the furies will stand 
about his hard bed and leer at him ; his heart will 
beat like a trip-hammer and awake him ; he will sit 
up, staring before him, and see a white face with wild 
reproachful eyes. Ah, he remembers ! These hands, — 
will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood away ? 
So it is written, *' Sin, and death following after " ; the 
death of an endless shame and despair. This is what 
a man sees when he looks over his shoulder. 

But something else. A cross lifted in the midst 
of his past and throwing its resplendent shadow on 
every side, and a voice pleading with every man who 
will hearken, "Come now, let us reason together," 
saith the Lord ; " though your sins be as scarlet, they 



284 IN THE FIELDS AT EVENTIDE. 

shall be white as snow : though they be red like crim- 
son, they shall be as wool." Look back and meditate 
upon that. Get a right view of the past and set your 
past right before God. 

(2) The present hour j the present responsibility, 
the present duty. Let nothing divert your attention 
from that, ^sop, in one of his fables, tells of a phil- 
osopher, who, while dreamily looking toward the 
heavens, fell into a pit and cried aloud for help. A 
shepherd who had been watching his flocks near by, 
ran to his relief, reached down his crook and saved him. 
"What can I do for thee?" asked the philosopher. 
''Nothing," said the shepherd, "but this; give more 
heed to the things that lie about thy feet and less to 
the skies above thee, and thou wilt save thyself much 
trouble." To live for to-day is in the noblest sense 
to live for eternity. To be my very best this very 
hour, to do the very best for those about me, and to 
spend this moment in a spirit of absolute consecra- 
tion to God's glory ; this is the duty that confronts me. 

(3) The future. What lies behind this veil ? Some 
things, to a certainty. Death, I know, awaits me. 
Why shall I shudder to think of it? Me^tiento mori. 
A wise man will not shut his eyes to the inevitable, 
but will prepare for it. And after death, eternity. I 
live forever. Time is a handbreadth. Eternity ! eter- 
nity ! how long art thou ? And between death and 
eternity, the judgment day. This also is bound to 
be. We must all appear before the judgment-seat of 
God. " Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth ; but re- 
member ! remember ! remember ! that for all these 
things God will bring thee into judgment." Let that 
tremendous thought cast its light continually over 
you. 



IN THE FIELDS AT EVENTIDE. 285 

The age we are living in calls for thoughtful men ; 
not melancholy, but serious men. It calls for men 
to solve great problems, to stand against social her- 
esies, to resist the world, the flesh and the devil, to 
champion the just cause, to evangelize, to press hard 
on the long arm of the lever which is to lift this old 
world of ours into the light of God. This is no age 
for Don Quixotes, no age for Harry Hotspurs, no age 
for dreamers. 

" There's a fount about to stream, 
There's a light about to gleam, 
There's a midnight darkness changing into day ; 
Men of thought and men of action, 
Clear the way ! " 

And Isaac went out to meditate in the fields at 
eventide and he lifted up his eyes, and, behold, the 
camels were coming. Yonder was the fairest sight 
that ever greeted his eyes. Rebekah alighted from 
the camel and lifted her veil ; his bride came to him 
there in the eventide and he opened his arms to wel- 
come her. O! companies of angels come to us thus in 
our hours of meditation ; angels of life and happiness 
and peace. Hither come troops of promises and bright 
hopes and aspirations. Hither comes Christ himself 
to greet the thoughtful man ; he lifts his hands in 
blessing, "Peace be unto you." Lift up your eyes, 
good friend, as Isaac did, and go to meet him. 



"SHIBBOLETH." 

A SERMON PREACHED BY DR. BURRELL, SUNDAY, MAY 30, 1897. 

"Then said he unto him, Say now Shibboleth ; and he said Sibboleth : for he 
could not frame to pronounce it right."— Judges xii. 6. 

Jephthah was a bandit. He had been driven out ot 
Gilead by his brethren because he was the son of a 
harlot. He fled to the hill country and gathered a 
band of "vain fellows " about him. He was sent for, 
however, in the time of Gilead's extremity and proved 
himself a great captain. In battle with the Ephraimites 
he smote them hip and thigh. He placed guards at 
the fords of the Jordan to head off the retreating fugi- 
tives. The Gileadites and Ephraimites were cousins, 
and could only be distinguished by their articulation. 
The Ephraimites used no aspirate. So, as Milton 
says, they fell 



without reprieve, adjudged to death 

For want of well pronouncing Shibboleth. 

The two peoples, divided only by the width of the 
Jordan, were clearly differentiated in this manner; 
just as we detect a Frenchman nowadays by his 
inability to say " thin " or " thistle." 

We think of "Shibboleth" as the watchword of a 
party. In fact, however, its significance goes deeper. 
The unctuous phrases with which the Reverend 

(286) 



*^ SHIBBOLETH." 287 

Messrs, Pecksniff and Chadband are wont to inter- 
lard their discourses — these are not Shibboleths. Nor 
yet those non-essential truths and dogmas which 
separate between our modern tribes of Israel. Nor 
mere party names of any sort, as Luther, Calvin and 
Wesley. These are relativel)'' of little worth. The 
power of life and death is not in them. But there are 
Shibboleths of tremendous import. There are words 
which represent facts — facts essential to the being of 
the church and of religion itself — words which the 
unregenerate cannot speak because they cannot appre- 
hend the truths within them. 

I. Such is that great word God. Those who have 
not entered upon the spiritual life can say Law, 
Force, Energy, " Something not ourselves that maketh 
for Righteousness;" but they cannot apprehend the 
Deity as he is and as he has revealed himself to us. 

ITe is the one God. Not multitudinous as polythe- 
ists make him, nor yet an all-pervasive, nitrous-oxide, 
unconscious entity, or non-entity as Pantheists make 
him; but one great, living, thinking, reigning, per- 
sonal Sun at the centre of the universe. Allah il 
Allah ! 

He is the triune God: that is. Father, Son and Holy 
Ghost. '* These three are one," There are foolish 
folk who deride the doctrine of the Trinity as contra- 
rational. By the same token they must reject some 
of the simplest facts within the range of our observa- 
tion. I myself am a tripartite being, — body, soul and 
spirit, — and these three are one. Will you deride 
that ? The flame of a candle is light, heat and elec- 
tricity; these three are one. Will you deride that? 
These are but imperfect analogies, for the finite can 
never perfectly analogize the infinite; but they suffice 



255 " SHIBBOLETH. 

to show that the Trinity, while mysterious, is not 
therefore to be thrown out. 

We believe also in the incarnate God. A God in swad- 
dling bands ! " Behold, I show you a mystery." The 
world rejects it. Yet the same truth finds expression 
in the Greek and Roman mythologies and in the 
Oriental religions. Why should it be thought a thing 
incredible that God should take flesh upon him? 
This is as easy for him as for me to put on a domino. 
And if the Scriptures are true, if our religion stands, 
he has done it. As it is written: " The Word was 
made flesh and dwelt among us." 

II. Faith is another of the Shibboleths which the 
unconverted cannot articulate. By faith we mean the 
apprehension of facts in the province of the unseen. 

All knowledge is covered by two terms : Science 
and faith. 

(i) Science covers the field of visible things. True 
science is always exact because it deals only with 
facts. But much the larger part of current science 
deals with hypotheses. And exactness itself is fre- 
quently a relative term. A young man in Divinity 
Hall at Yale was practicing with an air-gun. His 
aim being poor, he sent a bullet through the window 
of a Professor's room. It chanced that this man was 
a Professor of Science. Now was his opportunity. 
He computed the parabola. For are not the data 
here ? the bullet imbedded in yonder wall, the round 
hole in the window ? Thus, knowing the exact curve, 
he was able to trace the course of the projectile to the 
room of a young theologue, who, in fact, did not know 
an air-gun from an earthquake. In vain did the poor 
culprit deny all knowledge of it. Exact science sealed 
his doom. At this juncture, however, the real male- 



" SHIBBOLETH." 289 

factor walked in and confessed his guilt. And, be- 
hold, his room was two hundred feet beyond the line 
of the computed parabola! The matter was dropped 
on the spot. Not all science is true science. But 
true science is exact with respect to all things which 
can be touched with fleshly hands or seen with fleshly 
eyes. 

(2) Faith covers the entire field of the unsee.i t^nd 
eternal. This is an infinitely larger field than the 
seen and temporal. And true faith is just as exact 
as true science. Let us not confound it with credulity, 
which rests on mere hearsay. Faith is the most 
substantial thing in the world. " Faith is the sub- 
stance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not 
seen." 

The sources of faith's evidence are prayer and 
Scripture and personal experience. In prayer the 
Lord speaks directly to the soul. Science can furnish 
no such evidence as that which the Magdalene had 
after the Lord had said, ** Thy sins be forgiven thee." 
This great spiritual fact, the pardon of sin, is as real 
as a stone or a planet, but logarithms cannot demon- 
strate it. 

God speaks also to the soul through Scripture. 
We who have professed to follow Christ have taken 
Scripture to be our rule of faith and practice. The 
question as to its authenticity and credibility was 
prior to our religious confession. The helmsman 
steers by his chart. He went to the Admiralty Office 
and provided himself with it at the beginning of the 
voyage. He made sure then that it had the proper 
seal and signature. He asks no more questions. 
This man at the wheel would be a fool if at every 
flurry of wind, when the ship begins to reel and toss, 



290 ' SHIBBOLETH." 

he should begin to question the authenticity of his 
chart. He believes it; he consults it. 

And then Personal Experience; '* That which mine 
eyes have seen and my hands have handled of 
the word of life declare I unto you." If Christ has 
passed my way and transformed my life, you may say 
to me with all the possible power of logic, " Is not 
this the son of Joseph ? " and I must answer, " No; he 
is the chiefest among ten thousand, the one altogether 
lovely! He has led me into his banquet hall and his 
banner over me is Love. Not to mine eyes is light so 
dear nor friendship half so sweet! " Such conviction 
as this is impossible to those who have not known 
him. Can you send a man to see Chamounix for you ? 
Can you listen to theOratorio of the Messiah by proxy? 

So the infinite world of invisible facts is open to 
faith only. You look at the stars and bless the tele- 
scope; but look through the interstellar spaces, on 
and on, and say, " Somewhere yonder are heaven and 
the great white throne!" This is a path which no 
fowl knoweth, and the eagle's eye hath not seen. 
Here is no use for the telescope nor for fleshly sight. 
Faith alone can apprehend the unseen and eternal. 

III. The world cannot say Proviaence. It can say 
"Kismet!" It believes in Fortune; dreads a mys- 
terious, supernatural Something; is afraid to sail on 
Friday, dare not sit down at table with thirteen; car- 
ries a crooked sixpence in its pocket; nails a horse- 
shoe to its mast. But we believe in God at the centre^ 
ruling all. We believe in a vast, eternal Providence, 
in which are comprehended all the details of the uni- 
versal and harmonious plan. Here are involved 
three truths, covering the past, the present, and the 
future. 



" SHIBBOLETH. 29I 

(i) Predestination. Ah, you will have none of that! 
Predestination is a repellent "dogma." The world 
refuses to articulate it. But see how simple : If there 
is a God, he must foreknow; if he foreknows, then 
the ultimate fact is an absolute certainty; but a fact 
which was eternally known and certain to the divine 
mind, was obviously predestinated. The word is of 
no particular value; the fact itself is undeniable. 
An objection is interposed, " What, then, about man's 
freedom ? " Man is just as free as if there had never 
been a decree at all. It does not interfere with the 
freedom of your choice that your wife is preparing 
dinner for you, that she knows what you are going to 
eat, and ordains that you shall eat just that and nothing 
else. Neither does the fact that whatever I do has 
been eternally clear to the divine mind, affect my doing 
as I will. 

(2) Government. I am held in the supervision and 
control of Providence. God watched over me all last 
night. I laid my head upon my pillow, and presently 
there came a voice of singing far away, — lower, — 
fainter, — and I was gone; that was God's lullaby. 
This morning I stirred in my sleep, there was a twit- 
ter outside my window, — a glimmering under my 
eyelids— and slowly, sweetly, I came back from the 
land of forgetfulness. Then God took my hand, and 
all day long he has been leading me. Some people 
are praising him because in dreadful accidents they 
have escaped. Let us praise God that we have been 
in no accident. O, the depth of the riches both of the 
wisdom and knowledge of God! 

(3) Grace. We speak of " Providence and Grace." 
In point of fact, however, Grace is within the sphere 
of Providence, It is, indeed, the most special of all 



292 " SHIBBOLETH. 

"special providences." The world can see, with fleshly 
eyes, sin and its penalty. " The soul that sinneth it 
shall die." But the man who has learned grace sees 
one thing further; the interposition of a divine Father, 
in the redemption of the cross. The world believes 
in Karma^ the doctrine of consequences; but those who 
have learned the language of Canaan can say, " God 
so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not per- 
ish, but have everlasting life." 

IV. Righteousness. The world can say Morality, 
but there is a difference; there is a difference as wide 
as the gulf between life and death. Morality is per- 
sonal merit. Righteousness is godliness, that is, God- 
likeness. Righteousness is a vast word and compre- 
hends a trio of doctrines. 

(i) Regeneration. This is the beginning of it. It 
means not outward seeming, not resolving or *' re- 
forming," but an inward change. For a lion in a 
cage is a lion still. Nicodemus came to Jesus with 
some conception of morality, but none whatever of 
the great mystery wherein a man is turned about 
from facing hell to facing heaven. "Verily, verily, I 
say unto thee," said Jesus, "except a man be born 
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." And 
Nicodemus answered, " How can these things be?" 
He could understand reformation; but a new heart, a 
new conscience, a new mind, a new man,—" How can 
these things be?" 

(2) Sanctification. The Holy Spirit takes us in 
hand, if we will. He points to Jesus as the ideal of 
character and says, " Imitate him," and helps us do it. 
This is something better than " ethical culture." Not 
that ethical culture is not good as far as it goes. But 



" SHIBBOLETH. 293 

you can buy carpet made that way, printed on one 
side, for a quarter dollar a yard. Sanctification^ 
however, is ingrained. True character is dyed in the 
wool; and it wears. 

(3) Imputation. This makes a man perfect, and 
nothing else can. The world wants to "make merit." 
A Christian prays that Christ will impute his right- 
eousness unto him. Be as good as you can, in the 
name of God and manhood, but then confess, in 
all honesty, that you are not as good as you should 
be. The last touch is put upon character when Christ 
throws about us the white robe of his own obedience, 
his absolute righteousness, his infinite merit. 

Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness 
My beauty are, my glorious dress; 
'Mid flaming worlds in these arrayed, 
With joy shall I lift up my head. 

V. The Kingdom of Christ. Those who take no 
interest in religion are wont to speak of ''the philos- 
ophy of history," ''the logic of events," "the evolu- 
tion of the race; " but a Christian must go further 
and find an ultimate consummation of all these in the 
setting up of the Kingdom of Christ. This is nothing 
to the multitude. They can say "gold," "pleasure," 
"personal emolument," — " Let us eat and drink and 
be merry," — but here is something they can neither 
understand nor clearly articulate, "Seek ye first the 
kingdom of God." 

This kingdom has its beginning in the subjuga- 
tion of the individual soul to the authority of Christ. 
It is written, " The kingdom of God is within you." 
We are not in the kingdom until the kingdom is in 
us. We are not a part of the kingdom until we have 
brought every thought into subjection to the king. 



294 " SHIBBOLETH. 

The kingdom, furthermore, is about us. It grows 
in the multiplication of those who acknowledge the 
King. We serve him whenever we awaken a new 
song, or bring the hopeless into the beneficent light of 
salvation. Let others set their hearts wherever they 
will, we can have but one supreme ambition, to honor 
the King, 

This is ultimate; the setting up of our Lord's 
sovereignty on earth. For every knee shall bow be- 
fore him and every tongue shall confess that he is 
worthy. The remarkable work of Saint Augustine, 
De Civitate Dei was written about the beginning of 
the fifth century, during the fires and disasters under 
which the Roman Empire tottered to its fall. A flood 
of Teutonic barbarians swept in, bringing darkness 
and chaos with them. Just then Augustine made his 
wonderful picture of " The City of God." It was a 
prophecy of that which shall be. The world cares 
nothing for this splendid restitution of all things. 
Ah, but the followers of Christ love his appearing, 
and long for the day when he shall reign among 
them. This is their dream: "I saw the Holy City, 
New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, 
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And 
I heard a voice say, He shall dwell among them and 
they shall be his people and God himself shall be 
their God." 

But these things are addressed to many in an 
unknown tongue. They say, ** Doth he not speak in 
parables?" Alas, that the present order should be 
for multitudes the eternal order. Alas, that those 
who are born to live forever should not learn the 
language of the heavenly Canaan. 



" SHIBBOLETH. 295 

One watchword we must be prepared to utter 
when we stand at heaven's gate. All other Shib- 
boleths will fail; this will give us entrance into life, 
'^In His Name!'' It was the watchword of the old 
crusaders. A knight, pursued, and hard bestead drew 
near the castle, riding hot and fast; "In Christ's 
Name ! " he cried. Up went the draw-bridge, open 
flew the gates; and he was safe. Friend, have you 
learned it ? Can you give the countersign ? Can you 
say, "Jesus," not with your lips only, but with heart 
and conscience and will? For this is his own word 
*' No man cometh unto the Father but by me." 



"SON, REMEMBER." 

A SERMON PREACHED BY DR. BURRELL, SUNDAY, JUNE 6, 1897. 

" But Abraham said. Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy 
good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things." — Luke xvi. 25. 

We speak of the parable of Dives and Lazarus. 
But why "parable " ? In other cases a parable is in- 
troduced by some such phrase as, " He spake a para- 
ble unto them, saying." But here the narrative begins 
abruptly, — "And there was a certain rich man." 
Moreover, there is a tone of verisimilitude from be- 
ginning to end. It sounds like common life. The 
beggar here is just such as you will find at the door- 
ways of the more opulent homes of the Oriental cities 
of this day. His sores were real sores; his hunger 
was a real hunger. Light is thrown upon his charac- 
ter in the name Lazarus, which means " My helper is 
God." 

And the rich man is like the rich man of to-day. 
Hss real name is not given, for obvious reasons.* 
We have no reason to suppose that he was notoriously 
wicked in any way. So far as we are aware, he was 
not a thief, a usurer, an extortioner. He was rich, to 
be sure; but many of the wealthy are true servants of 
God. He was an aristocrat, but that is not so bad, if 

* The meaning of " Dives " is, "A rich man." 

(296) 



297 

you stick to the root-meaning of the word. He was 
arrayed in purple and fine linen, and fared sump- 
tuously every day. But before passing an adverse 
criticism at this point, we should know whether he 
was able to foot his bills. He was a prominent citi- 
zen, genial, hospitable, and probably well thought of. 
Nor was he without kindly feeling We would think 
twice before allowing a beggar like Lazarus to lie 
before our gate. He not only permitted this, but said 
to a servant when the banquet was over, *' Gather up 
some of the cold bits and carry them to yon beggar 
at the gate." 

What then was the trouble with this rich man ? 
Selfishness. He lived a self-centred life. He was 
sordid; of the earth, earthy. Luther says, ^^Lebte 
herrlich und in Freuden'": that is, his life was environed 
by sense and time. The great questions to him were 
not " What shall I do to be saved ? " or, " How shall 
I be just before God ? ' or, "What can I do to help 
my fellow-man ? " But, *' What shall I eat and drink, 
and wherewithal shall I be clothed ? " Do not 
hastily condemn him, however, for multitudes of em- 
inently respectable people are spending their lives 
that way. 

And the sequel. "The beggar died." Of course he 
died. All beggars die. No note is made, however, 
of any imposing obsequies. 

Rattle his bones over the stones; 

He's only a pauper, whom nobody owns. 

But while they were carrying his poor body out to the 
potter's field, a retinue of angels took charge of the 
man who had passed out of that frail tabernacle and 
bore him to Abraham's bosom; that is, to the inner- 



298 '* SON, REMEMBER." 

most place of heavenly glory. And they said, '' Here 
is the beggar who lay at Dives' gate, whose name was 
'My helper is God.'" 

But what about Dives ? It is written, "The rich 
man also died." Do rich men die, then ? They think 
not. But the black camel waits at their door too. 
One day Dives w^as ill; his pulse was too rapid, his 
temperature too high. The physician was summoned 
and the nurse; the light burned low. Dives was dead. 
Mention is made of his funeral. No doubt it was a 
great occasion in the city. There were trappings of 
woe on every side. An eloquent eulogium was pro- 
nounced upon him in the synagogue which he was 
accustomed to attend. Hired mourners went wailing 
before the bier; friends and kinsfolk wept as they 
carried Dives out to the ancestral vault; a splendid 
epitaph was inscribed above him. 

Was that the end ? O, no ! " In hell he lifted up 
his eyes, being in torments." I am not going to de- 
fend God in these premises; he can take care of his own 
administration. It is enough to say that the veil is 
lifted, and we have a momentary glimpse of the eter- 
nal world. There is a separation there, — a great gulf 
fixed. Fixed ! Let us not trifle with that word, but 
take it as Christ gives it. And another thing we see 
in this brief lifting of the veil is the fact that memory 
abides in the other world. Let us stop right here and 
think. This is our theme. Memory in the eternal 
world. 

I. There is no forgetting, here, or there, or anywhere. 
The ancients spoke of a river flowing between time 
and eternity, in which the souls of the departed 
bathed seven times, and remembered no more. But 
Lethe is a fable. There is no oblivion. Memory is 



" SON, REMEMBER. 299 

like the Great Salt Lake, fed by streams from the 
plateaus and Wasatch hills, but with no outlet. Sir 
William Hamilton defines memory as the retentive 
faculty. It is purely mechanical ; quite automatic ; 
as irrational as a magpie, to which it has been likened ; 
it steals your spoons and your silver pencil, and hides 
them away without rhyme or reason. We used to 
say, when we were children, "I know, but I can't 
remember." Our teachers called it a poor excuse ; 
but they were wrong, and we were right. The things 
we had learned were stored away in memory, but 
recollection, which is the disbursing faculty, could 
not on the instant produce them. The money was on 
deposit, but the paying teller could not lay his hand 
upon it. 

In 1804, Benedict Arnold lay dying in London. 
A quarter of a century had passed since his treason ; 
he had tried to forget, his friends had been forbidden 
to mention it. But as death approached, he called for 
his faded Continental uniform, and put it on — buff 
waistcoat and cocked hat ; and thus, sitting erect in 
bed, he faced the King of Terrors. Then his honor 
came back to him. He was again at Ticonderoga. 
He was on his black horse, driving the savages before 
him ; he was pushing his way through the trackless 
forests ; he was again under the walls of Quebec, and 
his voice rang forth in one clear word, " Surrender! " 
The things of the past had never died ; they were but 
sleeping. And so it ever is. 

II. A step further : The hidden things shall ultimately 
be brought to light. In other words, the book of remem- 
brance shall be opened. 

The record of our lives is kept in " double entry." 



300 * SON, REMEMBER. 

Omniscience is the ledger. Nothing is lost out of the 
divine mind. 

Eternity with all its years 

Stands present to Thy view ; 
To Thee there's nothing old appears, 

Great God! there's nothing new. 

Our memory is the day book ; the complement 
and correspondence of Omniscience. The opening of 
the record is indicated in these words, "Son, remem- 
ber." It is well-known that a sailor falling from the 
masthead sees his whole life pass before him in pano- 
ramic scenes before he strikes the water. A fact like 
this demonstrates the possibility that the soul in its 
flight from time to eternity may see the unrolling of 
the entire past. The memory may be vivified and all 
things revealed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an 
eye. 

III. Observe now the bearing of these facts upon the 
sorro7vs of the lost. What possibilities are here. 

" Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime re- 
ceivedst thy good things." The man whose lips are 
parched with an unquenchable thirst sits again at the 
table spread with luscious viands. Here are music 
and laughter, and servants flitting to and fro. He 
lifts from the table the deep, cooling draught, and 
awakes. He did but remember, and, alas! "Sorrow's 
crown of sorrow is remembering happier things." 

He must needs remember also his past sins. Time 
was when he could drown the remembrance of them 
in the flowing bowl, but he cannot now. The open 
page covered with sins, unexpiated and unforgiven, 
stares him in the face. On the fly-leaf of Campbell's 



30I 

copy of " The Pleasures of Memory " were written 
these words : 

Alone at midnight's haunted hour, 

When nature woos repose in vain, 
Remembrance wakes her penal power, 

The tyrant of the burning brain. 
She tells of time misspent ; of comforts lost } 

Of fair occasions gone forever by ; 
Of hopes too fondly nursed, too rudely crossed 

Of many a cause to wish, yet fear to die ! 
For what, except the instinctive fear 

Lest she survive, detains me here. 
When all the life of life is fled ? 

What but the deep, inherent dread, 
Lest she beyond the grave resume her reign. 

And realize the hell that priests and beldames feign? 

The one sin — the one preeminent, tremendous 
sin — standing forth above and beyond all others — 
will be the rejection of Christ. " They shall look on 
him whom they have pierced." Calvary will be repro- 
duced, and the cross with its outstretched arms will 
cast its shadow forever. The lost soul will remember 
the day in early youth when Christ for the first time 
came with his overtures of mercy ; the day later on 
when the minister in the village church preached, per- 
haps, on the words, " Behold, I stand at the door and 
knock ; if any man hear my voice and open the door, 
I will come in to him and will sup with him ;" and 
the soul made answer, *' Go thy way for this time ; 
when I have a more convenient season, I will come 
unto thee " ; the day when he looked down into the 
cold face of his mother, and her silent lips seemed to 
move again, as if pleading in the Master's name, 
"Come unto me, and I will give you rest" ; the day 
when life seemed dreary and purposeless, when he 



302 " SON, REMEMBER." 

said to himself there must be something better than 
this toiling with the muck-rake, this chasing of thistle- 
down, this grasping after faded wreaths ; when the 
voice of the reapers came from the distant field and 
one standing nearby, and said, "Go thou and thrust 
in thy sickle and reap." Alas, alas, it might have 
been! This is the sorrow of it, "The harvest is past, 
the summer is ended, and I am not saved." Privi- 
leges wasted, opportunities thrown away. O fool that 
I am! Self-convicted, openly confessed, eternally pil- 
loried fool that I am! 

Do you say "This is old-fashioned preaching. 
This is much like preaching hell " ? But I have not 
said the word. The thing is so true that the Master, 
kindest and most loving of all friends, must needs 
speak of it. The ** outer darkness," the "fire that is 
not quenched," the " worm that dieth not," shame, 
remorse, forever and ever ; if these are true, no faith- 
ful minister can fail to present them. It is better to 
admonish now, while there is time to purge the mem- 
ory and prepare for eternity. " The blood of Jesus 
Christ cleanseth from all sin." 

IV. We turn now to brighter thoughts. Consider 
the part which memory takes i7i the felicity of the saints. 

They, too, will remember their sins, but not like 
those who know no pardoning grace. They will look 
on the hole out of which they were digged, and will 
praise the Lord who delivered them. They will 
remember the dismal past as the prodigal son did 
when he sat again at the table in his father's house. 
He could not but recall the rags and tatters, the 
hunger, the shame, and the swine-field. But he 
looked on his robe — "the best robe " — the shoes upon 
his feet — a freedman's shoes — and the signet ring on 



^' SON, REMEMBER.** 303 

his finger; and he must have said to his father, in a 
voice broken with grateful emotion, '' My father, I 
thank thee that thou didst not cast me utterly off, but 
didst patiently wait and watch for me, and didst 
come out to meet me when I was yet a great way off." 
I feel sure we shall forever remember the day of 
our conversion, when Christ came and said, ''Thy sins 
be forgiven thee." I see a man in princely garments 
standing by a ruined altar. A retinue of slaves and 
dependents are gathered about him. They would 
help him to rebuild the shrine, but he refuses their aid, 
and with his own hands gathers the stones and re- 
places them one upon another. Then he pours the 
anointing oil upon this rebuilt altar, kneels beside it, 
and uplifts toward heaven a face suffused with tears. 
His memory runs back. He speaks : " I thank thee, 
O gracious God, for that day, for that day thirty 
years ago, when homeless, hopeless, godless, a fugitive 
from a wronged and infuriated brother, I laid my 
head upon a stone just here and slept. I thank thee 
for the vision that came to me; the ladder let down 
from thy throne to my very feet, whereon I saw the 
angels carrying up to thee my poor broken prayers 
and bringing down to me thy richest benediction. I 
thank thee for the covenant which was sealed, when I 
awoke, between my soul and thee; 'This God shall 
be my God forever.' *' 

O happy day that fixed my choice 
On Thee my Saviour and my God ! 

We shall recall the sorrows of the past, the dark 
days when we passed through the vale of weeping, 
our pains, adversities, disappointments, bereavements. 
We shall remember how friends came to us with their 



304 " SON, REMEMBER." 

well-intended sympathy, like vinegar on nitre, saying, 
" It is the Lord, and he doeth all things well." And we 
answered in our hearts, ''That is but cold comfort." 
And they said, "No affliction for the present seemeth 
to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it 
yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto 
them which are exercised thereby." And again we 
said in our hearts, "It is cold comfort." But the 
Lord has promised us, " In that day ye shall know." 
We shall then see face to face, and eye to eye, and 
understand how all things were working together for 
our good. 

We shall remembor our struggles too. I have 
seen one of Sherman's men, with a map on his knees, 
pointing out with pride the memorable march to the 
sea: "Here, just beyond Chattanooga, we were driven 
back. Here, as we came in sight of Atlanta, I was 
wounded. And here is Savannah, — and the taking of 
Savannah was worth it all." So shall we recall our con- 
flicts with the world and the flesh and the devil. We 
shall show our honorable scars. We shall rejoice that 
on occasion we could say, " No," under trial and were 
brave enough to stand by our convictions. We shall 
know then that we never did a more valorous thing 
than when we got the better of an evil habit or slew a 
darling sin. Haec olirn meminisse Juvabit. 

And we shall surely remember the day of our 
death, that strange day of which we stood in constant 
terror before it came. How we dreaded to meet the 
King of Terrors ! But in the moment of our need, dy- 
ing grace was given us. Friends wept at the bedside. 
Some one read, " Yea though I walk through the 
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for 
thou art with me." But they could not know how 



"son, remember." 305 

true that was for us. Then the farewell. Yonder, 
in a moment, was heaven's gate, and hands were 
beckoning. 

The world recedes, it disappears. 
Heaven opens on mine eyes; my ears 

With sounds seraphic ring. 
Lend, lend your wings ! I mount ! I fly ! 
O grave, where is thy victory ! 

O death, where is thy sting ! 

Then the first hour in heaven, — light, glory, efful- 
gence, and one Face shining over all. O the light 
of his countenance ! There is no need of the sun or 
the moon. And other faces ! Faces everywhere. 
In the joy of that first greeting you scarcely think of 
the beauty of the city. But with every hour the words 
of the Queen of Sheba come to us, " The half was 
never told ! " 

What then ? Let us hear the conclusion of the 
whole matter : '* Live for eternity." The thought 
of eternal remembrance invests our life with sol- 
emnity. We are writing with a diamond on a rock 
We are writing in the Book of Remembrance with in- 
visible ink. We are accumulating for the future. 
What we do, is done forever. The thoughts we 
think, the words we speak, the kindly and unkindly 
acts of daily life, we must face them again. Take 
heed therefore. Live for eternity. And the way to 
live for eternity is to concentrate all the energies of 
our life upon the discharge of present duty. There- 
fore, live to-day ! 



SUNDAY PLEASURES. 

" If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my 
holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; 
and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own 
pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyse.f 
in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the 
earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth 
of the Lord hath spoken it."— Isa, Iviii. 13, 14. 

A portentous sin of our time is Sabbath desecra- 
tion. What inroads and encroachments have been 
made upon the sanctions of the Fourth Command- 
ment within the memory of the youngest among us. 
Not many years ago it was customary to stretch a 
chain across the avenues in the neighborhood of 
churches while worship was going on. Now we hear 
the rattle of chariot wheels and the rumble of the 
horse-car. The ranks of the Sabbath workers are 
being reenforced, slowly but surely, as the years pass. 
Observe, also, the multiplication of Sunday pleasures. 
The theatres are thrown open; the athletic parks are 
filled with ball-players; the boulevards are thronged 
with wheelmen taking their Sunday spin. A great 
change truly ! In my boyhood I was never allowed 
to walk abroad on Sunday, unless it were hand in 
hand with my father to the graveyard, where we read 
the epitaphs together. The good man doubtless 
made a melancholy mistake at this point, but indeed 
it was a thousandfold better to err in the direction of 

(306) 



SUNDAY PLEASURES. 307 

an extreme observance than to run, in secular dis- 
sipations, upon the bosses of the shield of God. 

It will be an evil day for our country, for the com- 
munity, for our home-life when the Sabbath loses its 
solemn and splendid significance. The destiny of 
nations is bound up with Sabbath observance. We 
are accustomed to say of America " God has not dealt 
so with any people." Let it be said, also, that as a 
nation we have hitherto been singularly true to the 
obligations of the Fourth Commandment. But now 
the pendulum is swinging fast the other way. The 
children of Israel were sent into a wretched captivity 
of forty years to expiate their disobedience of Sab- 
bath Law. Woe worth the day when our American 
Sabbath shall pass from us ! 

It is evident that the moral convictions of many 
of the American people, with reference to the duty 
of Sabbath observance, have radically changed in 
recent times. Loose habits are due to loose views; 
for as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. We are 
fast drifting away from the true philosophy of the 
Sabbath. A man is not better than his creed. It 
will be profitable for us, therefore, to enquire, What 
are the true grounds of Sabbath rest? On what 
foundations does the Fourth Commandment stand ? 

I. // rests on the authority of God. No man can 
arrive at a just estimation of the Sabbath or of his 
personal duty toward it, without beholding the 
gleaming peak of Sinai dominating the sacred day. 
We may regard the enactment of Sabbath laws on 
the part of local councils and legislatures as an in- 
fringement of personal liberty, and we may question 
the right and justice of them; but no man can chal- 
lenge the right of God Almighty to say to his crea- 



3o8 SUNDAY PLEASURES. 

tures, " Thou shalt," or '' Thou shalt not." For who 
art thou that repliest against God ? 

It is said, however, that the Fourth Command- 
ment was abrogated by Jesus Christ. I say that is a 
libel on the only-begotten Son of God. He would 
not, if he could, have abrogated it; and, with all 
reverence I add, he could not if he would. In creat- 
ing man under the sanctions and conditions of the 
moral law, God had made it impossible to disannul 
or amend that law without changing the constitution 
of man. Is it not strange, that by common consent 
all other precepts of the moral law are regarded as 
eternal and unchangeable, save only this Fourth 
precept of the code ? Could Jesus Christ have dis- 
annulled the law, "Thou shalt not kill"? Would 
he, or could he have repealed the edict, " Thou shalt 
not steal " ? Is it thinkable, that he could have re- 
versed the commandment, " Thou shalt not commit 
adultery " ? But let it be observed, the Fourth Com- 
mandment is, just as really as these, an essential item 
of the moral law. The Decalogue was written on 
tables of stone because it was intended to be eternal. 
If it ever is repealed, God himself must repeal it. 
Only he who said, " Remember," may presume to 
say, " Forget." And he has never said it. 

How then did Jesus treat the Sabbath ? What 
was his attitude toward it ? He found the Fourth 
Commandment overlaid with the traditions of the 
elders. They had made it an intolerable burden by 
their ceremonial exactions. It was not permitted 
under the Rabbinical law to kindle a fire on the Sab- 
bath, nor to bandage a wound. A man must not 
walk on the ripened grain, lest it should be construed 
as threshing. He must not chase an insect, lest the 



SUNDAY PLEASURES. 309 

ungodly say he had gone a-hunting. If he fed his 
fowls, he must leave no grain on the ground, lest it 
should seem like sowing. If he dipped a radish in 
salt, he must not leave it there, for some man might 
say he was pickling. There were hundreds and 
thousands of such minute prescriptions as these. 
The Sabbath had thus come to be an intolerable 
burden and weariness. The Lord Jesus Christ tore 
away these unwarranted and pernicious precepts, and 
bade the people return to the original form of the 
Sabbath law. He did not destroy, he restored it. A 
ship comes laboring into port, unable to make head- 
way because her hulk is covered with barnacles. The 
skipper hastens to put her into dry dock, that she 
may be scraped and made ready to ''sail free." He 
would be a foolish man who would say that this was 
equivalent to scuttling the ship. The Lord stripped 
the Fourth Commandment of its burdensome and 
unpermitted trappings, and left it to the people as 
God originally gave it. 

II. // rests also on our filial relation with God. We 
are his sons and daughters. He made us in his like- 
ness and after his image and he appeals to this rela- 
tionship in giving the Sabbath law; "for in six days 
the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all 
that in them is, and rested the seventh day; where- 
fore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed 
it." In that "for" and that "wherefore" he dis- 
tinctly brings us into copartnership with himself in 
the observance of this rest day. 

In our observance of the Sabbath we recognize 
and perpetuate this blessed relation with him. Here 
is one test of our sonship. When James II. of Eng- 
land heard of the approach of Dutch William, he fled 



3lO SUNDAY PLEASURES. 

with all possible haste in a little boat; as he passed 
Lambeth Palace, he dropped the Stuarts' seal over 
into the Thames. It was counted an irreparable 
loss; but the officers of the crown afterwards dredged 
the river and found it. The Sabbath is like the 
Stuarts' seal; it keeps up our lineage with the great 
Father. To disregard it, is to show our indifference 
or disloyalty toward him. One purpose of this ordi- 
nance was to keep in mind our descent from God. 
The ox and the horse know no difference between the 
Sabbath and any other day; it belongs to our Father 
and us. He claims a property right in it, saying, 
"The Seventh Day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy 
God." But he also gives us a distinct right in it, 
saying, "The Sabbath was made for man." 

III. It is hit erw oven with the fibres of our physical 
constitution. It is a scientific fact, that we cannot pre- 
serve the best measure of health and vigor without 
just observance of this law. 

Not long ago Dr. Haegler of Basle, in a work on 
"The Expenditure and Repair of Vital Force," called 
special attention to the relation of sleep and Sabbath 
rest. His proposition is one that is generally known 
and universally conceded among scientists, to-wit: 
" The night rest after a day's work does not afford a 
complete recuperation of vital force." He illustrates 
in a series of zigzag lines.* 

The Monday line representing the reservoir of 



* "Beginning on Monday morning, each downward stroke 
marks the daily expenditure of energy, and the upward stroke 
the nightly recovery, which does not rise quite to the height of 
the previous morning; so that there is a gradual decline during 
the week, which only the prolonged rest of the Sabbath repairs. 
The downward lines show the continued decline of the forces 
when they are not renewed by the weekly rest." — Craft's ^^Sa^- 
bath for Man." 



SUNDAY PLEASURES. 



311 



vigor, after the Sabbath rest, is the longest line and 
shows the maximum of strength. On each succeed- 
ing day the line is shortened a little. On Tuesday 
morning the workman refreshed by sleep has regained 
most of his lost energy, but not all; there is a margin 
of loss. On Wednesday the line is still shorter; that 
is, there is a larger margin of loss. On Thursday, 
Friday and Saturday the lines are shortened more and 
more. On Saturday night the man has reached his 
minimum of strength. Now comes Sunday. If he 
observes it, he regains his full normal vigor and begins 
again where he began a week ago. If he refuses to 
observe it, he will never reach his full normal standard 
of vital force, but will suffer a constant drain more 



UVEU or .VITAL rORCE PRtSERYfiO BY SNBBATH RE^t^ 




and more until he ends in debility and breakdown. 
Thus it is made to appear, as a scientific fact which 
is disputed in no quarter worthy of consideration, 
that a man who habitually refuses to observe the 
Sabbath in rest, is living constantly on his reserve of 
vital force. This means that the Sabbath is necessary 



312 SUNDAY PLEASURES. 

for our physical health. The Sabbath was made for 
the body of man. 

IV. // is grounded in the necessities of our spiritual 
life. We are something more than bodies. Our life 
is not an handbreadth; we live for eternity, and the 
Sabbath is given in order that we may have oppor- 
tunity to prepare for it. 

What is a man ? Is he, as somebody has said, "A 
stomach with its appendages " ? Or, is he indeed an 
immortal soul ? What a story is this which the tele- 
graph brings of Barney Barnato, the diamond king. 
He set out in conquest of material wealth. He won 
five hundred millions. He would make it a thousand 
and be the prince of multi-millionaires. But the other 
day he leaped over the taffrail into the sea, and all 
that is left is a white face, a silent pulse, lustreless 
eyes. O what shall it profit a man if he gain the 
whole world and forget his life and lose it ? 

The words of the original precept are significant: 
" The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed 
it " ; that is, he set it apart for spiritual uses. He 
knew that we are too bound up and harassed and 
overburdened in our six days of secular life. He 
knew that if the galley-slave should ever know the 
delights of freedom, it must be because his chains are 
broken by an Almighty Hand. The Sabbath is our 
emancipation from the world. It is the day on which a 
thoughtful man will give his soul a chance to soar aloft, 
gaze at the great verities, and commune with God. 

Let us turn now to certain specific questions with 
reference to the proper observance of the day.* 



*This sermon was preached by request of a number of 
young people who desired light as to lawful pleasures and rec- 
reations on the Lord's Day, 



SUNDAY PLEASURES. 313 

(1) JV/iaf manner of work are we permitted to do? 
The commandment reads: ''In it thou shalt not do 
any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man- 
servant nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor the 
stranger that is within thy gates." The Lord, inter- 
preting this in the light of reason and common sense, 
makes two specific exceptions with reference to works 
of necessity and works of mercy, which indeed in the 
last reduction can scarcely be regarded as " works " 
at all. As he passed through the wheat-field with 
his disciples, he permitted them to pluck the ears of 
wheat and rub them in their hands and eat the grains. 
For this the Pharisees rebuked him. And he de- 
fended his disciples on the ground that what they had 
done was in the nature of necessity; that is, for the 
sustenance of life. And then seven of his most not- 
able miracles of healing were wrought on the Sab- 
bath; clearly indicating the right of his followers to 
perform deeds on mercy on that day. 

We may indeed go so far as to say that it is not 
only the right of Christians, but their duty, to do 
good as they have opportunity on the Sabbath. Go 
down into the slums and teach the Gospel. Go to the 
hospitals and smooth the pillow of the weary. Give 
the cup of water to thirsty lips; stretch forth the help- 
ing hand. This is to rest according to the divine 
ordinance; to find the sweetest possible rest in the 
service of the Lord and of our fellow-men. But, apart 
from works of necessity and mercy, there is a clear 
prohibition. We are to reduce our labor to the lowest 
minimum on that day. 

(2) What pleasures are we permitted to indulge in ? 
Only such as conform to the original Sabbath law 



314 SUNDAY PLEASURES. 

and are consistent with the general principles which 
furnish the foundation of it. 

What shall you read on Sunday ? Not light 
fiction; not such secular literature as will distract your 
heart from the just consideration of spiritual things. 
Not the Sunday newspapers; for apart from the fact 
that you deliberately break the Sabbath in purchas- 
ing one, and that in doing so you become a contrib- 
uting supporter to the ungodly enterprise, you know 
that the contents of that Sunday newspaper will not 
make for truth and righteousness in the education of 
your soul and in preparation for an eternity with God. 

But what about golf? And what about the Sun- 
day spin ? I know the specious arguments which 
young people are accustomed to offer in defense of it. 
" I am busy all through the week and have no other 
day for recreation." Yours is a pitiful case, my friend ; 
but unfortunately you prove too much. Are not all 
honest people in this world busy through the six 
days? If your argument holds, it will let the whole 
world of busy people loose on wheels, with golf clubs, 
and otherwise intent upon secular recreation, on the 
Lord's Day. In point of fact, the great multitude of 
those who are seen spinning along the boulevards on 
the Sabbath, are not the busy, thrifty handicraftsmen 
at all. A casual glance is enough to reveal that fact. 
But suppose that all these Sunday pleasurers could 
cry with a single voice, "We have no other day for 
our recreations," one word would answer them: — 
"You have no other day for the culture of your souls. 
You have no other day to read your Bibles, to wor- 
ship in the sanctuary, to meditate on holy things, to 
blend your praises with the hallelujahs of the angels 
and to get ready for the endless life." 



SUNDAY PLEASURES. 31$ 

Now read the text again and see if it does not ap- 
pear as if it had been written especially for wheelmen. 
" If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath" — thy 
foot, the foot upon this pedal; take heed, turn it 
away! — "from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and 
call the Sabbath a delight"— the Sabbath itself, in and 
of itself, with its own peculiar uplifting joys — **the 
holy of the Lord, honorable, not doing thine own 
ways nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking 
thine own words: then" — then what pleasures shalt 
thou have to compensate for all ? — "then shalt thou 
delight thyself in the Lord, and I shall cause thee 
to ride upon the high places of the earth" — ah, 
there is something infinitely better than a Sunday 
spin; to ride upon the high places of the earth !-^ 
"and I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob 
thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 
It is probable that some in this audience do not 
recognize the binding authority of the Fourth Com- 
mandment, nor confess themselves to be the followers 
of Christ. May I venture to say this word to all 
such, as to thoughtful men: You mean to do right; 
you love your country; you love the Christian home; 
and you would fain make the most of yourselves here 
and hereafter. You will probably admit that with 
these ends in view the Sabbath, quite apart from its 
religious sanctions, is of vital importance. You would 
deplore the loss of the American Sabbath almost as 
much as any of us. May I not, therefore, ask you. 
What you are doing personally to preserve it ? Are 
you joining in the clamor for larger liberty of work 
and recreation on this day ? Will you not think twice, 
and join us in doing what you can to strengthen the 
things that remain ? 



3l6 SUNDAY PLEASURES. 

But to those who revere the Decalogue and have 
made of themselves, body and soul, an uncondi- 
tional surrender to the Lord Christ, the Sabbath 
argument makes a tremendous, an unanswerable 
appeal. Here we get our foretastes of heaven. 
Shall it be to us a burden or a weariness ? Can we 
not call it " a delight, holy of the Lord, honorable " ? 

The Sabbaths of man's life 
Threaded together on time's string 
Make bracelets to adorn the wife 
Of the Celestial King. 

For all such people there is one answer to every 
question that bears on Sabbath observance. Why 
come to your minister, asking, ** Shall I do this ?" or, 
"Shall I do that?" We are not popes or bishops to 
make minute prescriptions in ethics. It is for us to 
hold you to your responsibilities in the freedom of a 
quick and educated conscience. " If any of you lack 
wisdom, let him ask of God and it shall be given 
him." 

A Scotch minister one day met a parishioner look- 
ing downcast. " How is it wi' you the day ? " — " The 
adversary's been at me again." — ''And what's he 
been saying to you, Janet?" — "He's been sayin'. It's 
a' a delusion; that the Bible's a tissue o' lees, that 
there is no heaven, that there's no hell, that there's 
no Saviour, that it's a' a delusion." — "And what did 
you say to him ? " — "Ah, minister, I kent better than 
that. I kent it was no use to argy wi' him; I just 
referred him to the Lord." Here is the secret of a 
definite and comfortable decision in all questions of 
casuistry. Would you know what work you would 
do, what pleasures you may indulge in, on the Lord's 



SUNDAY PLEASURES. 317 

Day ? Pray over it. God will give you wisdom. 
Pray over it whenever a doubt comes to you; no 
matter what the question is, refer it to the Lord. If 
you are afraid to pray over any question, take heed, 
for danger lies that way. 



OUR CONFIDANT. 

" And they went and told Jesus." — Matt. xiv. 12. 

At first glance there is no more repellent figure 
than that of John the Baptist. Gaunt, cadaverous, 
clothed in camel's hair and bound about the loins 
with a hempen girdle, a face browned by the suns of 
the wilderness, deep eyes flaming in cavernous sockets, 
a voice with the roll of muffled thunder in it. Yet 
not infrequently such men as he are the centre of a 
coterie of most devoted friends. Their very stern- 
ness has a strange attractive power. So it was with 
Peter the Hermit; so with Savonarola. No leader 
ever had a more devoted following than John the 
Baptist. His disciples were bound to him as with 
hooks of steel. 

Then came Jesus of Nazareth, to whom John him- 
self pointed with the words, " Behold the Lamb of 
God ! " The tide of popularity turned thereupon 
from John to Jesus, and the Man of Nazareth was fol- 
lowed by an ever-increasing multitude who heard him 
gladly. John's disciples were filled with envy, and 
said, " Master, behold, he to whom thou didst bear 
witness baptizeth, and all men come unto him." John 
replied, in a rare spirit of abnegation, "The friend of 
the bridegroom rejoiceth greatly because he heareth 
the bridegroom's voice. Said I not, I am not the 

(318) 



OUR CONFIDANT. 319 

Christ? He must increase and I must decrease.'" So 
John grew smaller and smaller as time passed and the 
figure of the Nazarene Prophet filled an ever greater 
place in current events. 

Then John was arrested and thrust into the castle 
of Machaerus. His disciples still clung to him. To 
and fro they passed between Machaerus and the Jor- 
dan where Jesus was teaching. One day beneath the 
castle walls they called their master's name, and there 
was no answer, " Where is he ? " "Dead!" 

Dead ? It was a hideous tale. It seems Herod had 
a wife who did not belong to him, and John had re- 
proved him, saying plainly, " It is not lawful for thee 
to have thy brother's wife." John knew Herod for a 
coward, but he must reckon with Herodias. Hell hath 
no fury like a woman scorned. She nursed the adder 
in her breast and bided her time. There came a 
banquet, and her daughter Salome danced before the 
court. O shame ! a descendant of the Asmonaean 
princes ! And she danced their senses away. Herod 
in his drunken enthusiasm cried, "Ask what thou 
wilt, even to the half of my kingdom, and thou shalt 
have it." She ran to her mother and returning said, 
" Here, forthwith, the head of John the Baptist on a 
charger ! " 

It is written, "the king was exceedingly sorry"; 
but, alas! he was frenzied with drink. The order 
was given. It was night. Up the stone stairway, 
lantern in hand, went the executioner ; John heard 
his footsteps approaching. The deed vv^as done in 
secrecy. The executioner lifted the head by its sable 
hair and, placing it on a royal dish, brought it into 
the audience hall. It was a sight to haunt one's 
dreams. The tongue was still, and yet it seemed to 



320 OUR CONFIDANT. 

say with a voice that nevermore would be hushed, "It 
is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife." The 
light in those fierce eyes was quenched, but Herod 
saw them many and many a time, in the watches of 
the night, flaming down upon him. Mene ! Tekel ! 
Upharsin ! Conscience makes cowards of us all. 
Away with the gory thing, and fling the body over the 
battlements to the dogs ! 

But the disciples of John cam.e and took up the 
body — the poor thin body, so lean with long fasting — 
lifted it tenderly, saying one to another " So true, so 
fearless ! alas ! alas ! " and they buried it. Then 
what ? Did they go to Herod complaining of his 
tyranny? Too late; the deed was done. Did they 
meet by the banks of Jordan to mingle their tears } 
Nay, every familiar spot by the Jordan spoke to them 
of the hushed voice and the vanished presence. 
Whither should they go ? "They went and told Jesus." 
They had learned his truth and tenderness. They 
could confide in him. 

Are you in trouble ? There is one that sticketh 
closer than a brother. He is a friend in fair weather 
and foul. Our religion is in its last reduction a per- 
sonal relation to him. Hear his word of promise, "I 
will not leave you comfortless. Lo, I am with you 
alway, even unto the end of the world." 

Are you brought down into the valley of tears ? 
Is there crape on the door ? 

Enters to-day 

Another body in churchyard sod, 
Another soul on the life in God ? 

His Christ was buried — and lives alway : 

Trust Him, and go your way. 

A man can bear any sorrow when his Lord Jesus 



OUR CONFIDANT. 32I 

Stands by. It was a dark night when Oliver Crom- 
well lay dying ; the tempest shook the windows of his 
room. He said to his wife, " Read me Paul to the 
Philippians." When she came to the place where it is 
written, '' I know how to be full and how to be hungry, 
both to abound and to suffer want. I can do all things 
throughChrist which strengtheneth me," he said,*' Stop 
there. That was the word that saved me when our 
lad Oliver went his way; that is the word that, above 
the roar of the tempest, shall cheer me now." There 
are times indeed when nothing else will answer; when 
the sympathy of earthly friends is but as vinegar on 
nitre. But the compassion of Jesus is infinitely help- 
ful, for it has omnipotence behind it. 

But there are sorrows deeper and darker than 
death. There are home troubles with which no 
stranger may intermeddle, — so black and bitter 
that wife and husband can scarcely speak of them 
to each other. The " skeleton in the closet " ! 
What a significant phrase that is ! A locked door, a 
white, ghastly, rattling thing behind it ; never 
dragged to light, but always there, always there. A 
scapegrace boy, a scandal touching the family name, 
the memory of an unexpiated crime ; these are ex- 
periences that human friendship cannot touch. To 
bear them alone is to eat one's heart out. There is 
only One who can help now. Go, tell it to Jesus. He 
not only asks us to take his yoke upon us, but he 
promises also to take our yoke upon him. 

Or is yours a more sordid trouble ? We are living 
in hard times, when the rich and the poor draw near 
together and adversity is master of all. I know of 
no sadder sight than a pawnbroker's window in these 
days. We laugh and speak slightingly about " our 



322 OUR CONFIDANT. 

uncle." But, O, it is a frightful pleasantry. I stood 
before such a window yesterday and this is what 
I saw : a ring, among others, and two names within 
it; a mandolin; a life-saver's medal; diamonds; a 
case of surgical instruments ; a gambler's outfit ; 
a revolver ; an India shawl. It is an easy matter 
to read the story between the lines, — shame and 
anguish, broken vows, the wolf howling at the door, 
vice and misery. God pity us, these are every- 
where in these days. And blessed is the man who 
has a helpful friend. "We should have gone under 
long ago," said a merchant to me recently, " had it 
not been that our senior partner has resources to 
draw on." It is an excellent thing to have such a 
partner in times like these. The Lord Christ has 
infinite resources to draw on. 

But there is another side. There are some who 
have never tasted sorrow. Do they need him ? Dr. 
William Jay was once surprised to receive in his 
pulpit a note asking for "prayers for a man in prosper- 
ity." If the prosperous knew the dangers that beset 
their path, such requests would be more common than 
they are. Near the head of Wall Street the other day, 
I saw a placard hanging from a beggar's neck, and read 
its legend, " Pity the poor." But what about these men 
going up and down the busy thoroughfare bearing the 
marks of good fortune? Ah, pity the rich! They 
are so absorbed in the cares of this present world 
that they hear no songs over their heads. Their eyes 
are so intent upon the yellow dust at their feet that 
they see not the gates of pearl open above them. Pity 
the prosperous ! If you are blest with an abundance 
of this world's goods, if adversity has never trans- 
fixed you, by all means make now the acquaintance 



OUR CONFIDANT. 323 

of this Confidant. Tell him your pleasures and let 
him participate in them. 

It is not fair to shut him out. If you expect him 
to weep with you in sorrow, shall you not also invite 
him to make merry with you ? It is but a one-sided 
covenant that covers the night and not the day. If 
there is a funeral at your home, he knocks, and you 
say, " Come in, Lord ; come in and condole with me." 
If the meal is low in the barrel and the cruse is 
empty of oil, he knocks and you say, " Come in, Lord, 
and supply my need." But if there is the sound 
of merry voices and tinkling feet, what then ? He 
draws near and cries, '* Behold, I stand at the door 
and knock ; if any man open to me, I will come in 
and sup with him." But the music and laughter are 
ringing in your ears and you cannot hear him ! 

There never was a marriage like that of Cana of 
Galilee at which Jesus was a guest. He did not glower 
on their pleasures that day. Jesus is no kill-joy. 
His pure heart was full of the sweetness of the hour; 
and when the bride and bridegroom joined their 
hands amid congratulations and good wishes, no 
guest had cheerier words to say than this friend from 
Nazareth who lifted his hands and laid his blessing 
upon them. What promise was theirs as they passed 
under the rainbow arch bearing this benediction of 
the Son of God ! 

One reason why we hesitate to receive this divine 
friend into our pleasures is because we have our mis- 
givings as to their quality oftentimes. Yet this is the 
way to solve the *' amusement question." Do noth- 
ing that you cannot pray over. You need the Lord 
Christ always and everywhere. 

It is not wise to shut him out, our pleasures are so 



324 OUR CONFIDANT. 

near to pain. The elite of Paris who gathered in the 
charity bazaar a few days since, arrayed in their laces 
and broadcloth, had no thought of calamity. What 
means the clanging of yonder bell ? The cry is heard, 
''Fire! Fire!" and in scarcely more time than we 
have taken to relate it, the frail structure is consumed. 
The laughter is turned into mourning. Summon the 
ambulance ; gather up the ashes ; scores on scores 
have rushed into eternity. So close together lie pain 
and pleasure, on the border line of eternity. 

But there is another hour in human experience 
when none but Christ can help us, — the hour of 
spiritual doubt. I suppose there are some who have 
no doubts ; who live in such a serene and blessed 
atmosphere that they entertain no question as to 
tlie eternal verities. They are like birds that fly so 
high above the earth that the dust never falls upon 
their wings. But I confess to another experience. 
There are moments when sweetest spiritual com- 
munion is broken in upon as if by the voice of 
the adversary with such suggestions as, " Are you 
sure there is a God ? Are you sure that death does 
not end all?" These are but momentary interrup- 
tions of the blessed life of faith ; but while they last 
they are unspeakably painful. I can recall one period 
in my life when for weeks together I could make no 
prayer but this, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine 
unbelief." But alas for a man who in su:h moments 
cannot speak w4th the Lord of life, who cannot look 
upward out of his deep midnight into the clear shin- 
ing of the sky above him. 

If you have doubts, go tell them to Jesus. Do not 
confer with other doubters. Do not seek counsel 
of skeptics and scoffers. Do not plunge into your 



OUR CONFIDANT. 325 

books of radical philosophy. Go make a clean breast 
of all to him who said, "I am the light of the world." 
He can dispel doubt. As our spiritual physician 
he can meet our case, but we must tell him all. If 
having a dreadful sinking of the heart, I go to an 
earthly physician, he will feel my pulse and take my 
temperature and ask me one question after another 
until I say, '' I have a strange sinking of the heart " ; 
then he exclaims, " That alters the case ; why did 
you not tell me? I know now what ails you." If we 
are going to the mercy-seat at all, let us not go wear- 
ing a false face. Let us not try to make it appear to 
our Lord Jesus that we are better than we really are. 
The only way to get the blessing is to tell him all. 
We speak of " Doubting Thomas." I see no reason 
for that appellative. He was no more a doubter than 
the other disciples; his fault lay, not in refusing to 
believe, for they all had declined to believe until they 
saw the risen Christ, but in being absent from the 
prayer-meeting on a certain night. They told him 
they had seen the Christ with the marks of his 
anguish upon him. ** I will not believe until I also 
have seen him ; until I have seen his wounds and 
thrust my hand into his side." The time came when 
the Lord met him upon that very basis of faith. As the 
disciples were met in the upper room, he stood suddenly 
in the midst, and turning to Thomas said, '' Behold, 
the nail-prints in my palms ; reach hither thy hand 
and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless but 
believing." And Thomas cried, " My Lord and my 
God ! " 

So long as we walk by faith, there must be a 
possibility of doubt; but when the moment comes and 
we stand in the night surrounded by doubts that 



326 OUR CONFIDANT. 

taunt and hiss at us, let us remember that we have a 
Friend who dwells in the glory of absolute verity and 
who is ready at our call to help us. Meanwhile, stand 
fast ! You are a foolish man if you leap from the 
carriage when your horses are running away. Get 
hold of the lines if you can, but in any case stay 
there. Do not give way in the stress of the ad- 
versary's assault, but abide the coming of your Friend; 
he will bring the morning with him. 

But there is another experience, deepest and most 
dismal of all, — conviction of sin. At this point we 
are all alike. As the Scotch say " We are a' John 
Thompson's bairns." Or as Paul says, " We have all 
sinned and come short of the glory of God." 

Sin is an awful thing. Let us not minimize it. 
The possibility of hell-fire is in it ; the fire that is 
never quenched, the worm that dieth not, the outer 
darkness, exile from God. 

We have repeatedly been told by Biblical scholars 
that there is a question as to the authenticity of 
the story of the woman taken in adultery. I am 
glad that narrative is in the new version. The 
revisers, among whom were the most learned of 
Biblical expositors, weighed the question pro and con 
exhaustively and concluded that the story should 
remain. For this many souls will rejoice. No part 
of Scripture comes closer to personal experience. 
The Rabbis hurled her down upon the marble floor 
of the temple and looking to Jesus said, "Moses in 
the law requireth that such as she shall be stoned; 
but what sayest thou ? " All clamored for her death; 
two only in that company were silent, Jesus — who 
wrote with his finger in the dust " Let him that is 



OUR CONFIDANT 327 

without sin cast the first stone at her " — and the 
woman herself. Was she penitent for her sin ? Her 
crouching form that shook with sobs cried, Peccavi. 
Her crimson face, which she vainly sought to cover 
with her hands cried, Miserere ! Miserere I Her 
whole attitude was confession ; his whole attitude 
was compassion. " Go and sin no more ! " So he 
sent her forth into a new life of hope and virtue. 

Aye, but we are not like her. No ? '' God, I thank 
thee that I am not like other people, or even as this 
woman." Ah, "we are a* John Thompson's bairns." 
There is no difference. It is the fact of sin and 
neither its quality nor its quantity that brings us into 
enmity against law. And there is only One who can 
heal and comfort us. There is only One in all the 
world who can say " Son, daughter, thy sins be for- 
given thee." 

I want a friend, you want a friend. There is no 
sorrow deeper than friendlessness. An old writer 
says, " Friends are like shadows ; some like the shadow 
cast by the sun, and others like the shadows cast by 
moon and stars." But there are times when there is 
no shadow. There are nights when the moon and 
stars go out. Then there is one Friend who stands 
by us in the blackness of darkness. 

At this moment there is a man somewhere sitting 
at his desk with his face in his hands, a half-written 
note beside him, and a pistol. The papers will tell 
it to-morrow. And somewhere there is a wild-eyed 
woman walking by the river side, the fire of despair 
burning in her eyes ; and from the still depths of 
the river the sirens sing and beckon. The papers 
will tell it to-morrow. O that they knew ! O that 



328 OUR CONFIDANT. 

the friendless knew the comfort that the Lord Christ 
can give ! 

I've found a Friend ; O, such a Friend I 

So kind, and true, and tender, 
So wise a Counselor and Guide, 

So mighty a Defender ! 
From Him who loves me now so well, 

What power my soul can sever? 
Shall life or death, or earth or hell 

No; I am His forever. 



VANDALS IN THE TEMPLE. 

"A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees; 
but now they break down the carved work thereof with axes and 
hammers." — Ps. Ixxiv. 5, 6. 

An unknown minstrel in the time of the captivity 
sings in a minor key. It has come to him that the 
Holy City is made desolate, and the temple with its 
magnificent furnishings is under the ruthless hand of 
the spoiler. His harp is hung upon the willows, and 
he weeps when he remembers Zion. The singer sees 
the axeman felling the cedars of the forest and shap- 
ing them to their places as beams and pillars in the 
sanctuary. Ah, the builder was a famous man; but 
now the Vandal wields the axe. He ruthlessly smites 
the carved work on which the cunning artificers of 
Tyre and Sidon had expended their most consummate 
skill. "Alas," the minstrel wails, "we are fallen on 
evil times ! The waster is in fashion now ! " 

The song of Whittier, called "The Reformer," 
sounds like an echo of this Babylonish hymn, though 
in a far more cheerful strain: 

All grim and soiled and brown with tan, 

I saw a Strong One, in his wrath, 
Smiting the godless shrines of man 
Along his path. 

The Church beneath her trembling dome 

Essayed in vain her ghostly charm: 
Wealth shook within his gilded home 
With strange alarm. 
(329) 



;30 VANDALS IN THE TEMPLE. 

Fraud from his secret chambers fled 

Before the sunlight bursting in: 
Sloth drew her pillow o'er her head 
To drown the din. 

"Spare," Art implored, " yon holy pile; 

That grand old time-worn turret spare " 
Meek Reverence, kneeling in the aisle, 
Cried out " Forbear! " 

Gray-bearded Use, who, deaf and blind, 

Groped for his old accustomed stone, 
Leaned on his staff, and wept to find 
His seat o'erthrown. 

Young Romance raised his dreamy eyes, 

O'erhung with paly locks of gold, — 
"Why smite," he asked, in sad surprise, 
"The fair, the old?" 

Yet louder rang the Strong One's stroke, 

Yet nearer flashed his axe's gleam; 
Shuddering and sick of heart I woke, 
As from a dream. 

I looked: aside the dust cloud rolled, — 

The Waster seemed the Builder too; 
Up springing from the ruined Old 
I saw the New. 
****** 

For life shall on and upward go; 

Th' eternal step of progress beats 
To that great anthem, calm and slow, 
Which God repeats. 

Take heart ! — the Waster builds again, — 

A charmed life old Goodness hath; 
The tares may perish, — but the grain 
Is not for death. 

God works in all things; all obey 

His first propulsion from the night: 
Wake thou and watch !— the world is gray 
With morning light ! 



VANDALS IN THE TEMPLE. 33I 

God bless the axe, — the axe that is wielded upon 
the thick trees of the forest for the building up of 
homes and legislative halls and sanctuaries. God 
bless the axe that is laid at the root of all trees of 
oppression and wrong. As everybody knows, Glad- 
stone, wreathed with his honorable garland of almond 
blossoms, still loves to swing his axe in the woods of 
Hawarden. Many a beam and pillar has he hewn 
for their places in the fabric of civil and ecclesiastical 
freedom. O that his right hand might be strength- 
ened still, to cut up by the roots the upas-tree of 
English protection, under which the Sultan and his 
Moslem assassins have so long sheltered the religion 
of war and lust and slavery ! 

But there is a sharp contrast here between the work 
of the builder and that of the destroyer: the one lifting 
his axe against the thick trees of the forest, the other 
against the carved work of the sanctuary. There is 
a contrast sharp and distinct between the Vandal, who 
glories in mere destruction for destruction's sake, 
and the reformer, whose ambition is to add to the 
sum total of the public weal and contribute somewhat 
to the glory of God. 

The Vandal is a familiar figure in political life. 
He hates the present order of things and thrusts out 
his lip at every citizen, except himself, who presumes 
to take a practical interest in public affairs. " Down 
with parties ! Down with political platforms ! Down 
with the administration ! " You heard this Vandal 
speaking from the tail-end of trucks and band- 
wagons in our last presidential campaign; you will 
see him again when the issue is joined for a just ad- 
ministration in the greater and better New York. 
He is a most vociferous critic, but has no suggestion 



33^ VANDALS IN THE TEMPLE. 

to make as to practical reform. Trust him not ! The 
Germans have a homely proverb which meets his 
case: *'See to it that in washing the bath tub, you do 
not empty the infant into the brook." 

The Vandal makes himself conspicuous also in all 
the current controversies of society. He will solve 
for you the problem of labor versus capital in a trice. 
He poses as an anarchist, a socialist, at times a walk- 
ing delegate, but always a reformer. He denounces 
trusts and corporations without being able to give a 
reason for the faith that is in him. He is against em- 
ployers and millionaires. To his mind, the issue is 
between the bomb and the ballot; between dynamite 
and the trowel. This man is of no perceptible use in 
the social fabric. An3'^body can tear down; but where 
is your builder? Anybody can be an iconoclast; but 
where is your sculptor ? Anybody can destroy the 
carved work; but who will hew us the beams of cedar 
from the forests of Lebanon ? 

This philosophy of destruction found expres- 
sion in the French Revolution. So vain an out- 
pouring of life and treasure in the mere passion for 
overthrow had never been seen before, and, please 
God, shall never be seen again. The Bastile was 
torn down from turret to foundation. So far, so good. 
But homes and palaces, churches and legislative halls, 
followed fast. The cry was, " Down with God ! Down 
with wealth and prosperity! Down with govern- 
ment!" The cup filled with the blood of aristocrats 
was pressed to princely lips. Then the reign of 
terror! The streets were red. The nights were filled 
with shrieks and curses. And down from the dead- 
walls, while the mobs went surging by, gleamed the 
grim satire; ''Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." Chaos 



VANDALS IN THE TEMPLE. ^^^ 

and confusion ! And then the Little Corporal came 
marching in, welcomed with cries of " Vive V Em- 
pereur^'' took his place upon a throne of tyranny 
riveted with such fetters and manacles as France 
had never dreamed of, and laughed the iconoclasts to 
scorn. Such is the logical end of social vandalism. 
Thus it must ever be. 

Our chief interest to-day, however, is with the 
Vandal in the Temple. Religion is a matter of common 
interest to all the children of men. A neutral atti- 
tude is impossible. You must be for or against. You 
must be a waster or a builder. 

The Vandal in this relation sometimes poses as 
an atheist. '* The fool hath said in his heart, There is 
no God "; but this man is not satisfied with his solilo- 
quy; he must needs teach others so. He regards 
theism as a fable, and cries, " Get rid of this Tyrant 
who reigns in the skies ! " 

But, assuming for the moment that theism is a 
dream, is it not indeed a most beneficent dream ? And 
what will this waster gain, if he dissipates the shadows 
that walk through it ? I know of a man who was left, 
when an infant, in a basket at a rich man's door. He 
grew up ignorant of the fact that he was a foundling, 
rejoicing in all the privileges of sonship in that happy 
home. But in an evil day a meddling busybody said, 
*'You are not this man's son; you have no father." 
Who shall estimate the pain and sorrow caused by 
those words, though indeed they were the very truth ? 
But what wretch is this who would persuade me that 
I, trained from the mother's knee to lift my voice to- 
ward heaven and say, "Abba, Father," have no right 
to trust him thus ; nay, that there is no Father there 
to answer me. 



334 VANDALS IN THE TEMPLE. 

Or your Vandal is perhaps an ag7iostic. He 
finds me saying with Job, " I know that my Re- 
deemer liveth"; or with Paul, " I know whom I have 
believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep 
that which I have committed unto him against that 
day." It grieves him that I should believe anything. 
He believes only what he can see with fleshly eyes 
and touch with his finger-tips. He says to me, '' You 
think you know, but in fact your faith is mere credulity. 
God and immortality and kindred matters are beyond 
your ken. Address yourself to present tasks and 
duties. Here is a world that you can see; why dream 
of the unseen? " Thus the destroyer would cut the 
earth from beneath my feet. 

A dream ? A mere dream ? A mere illusion ? 
Then leave me alone to die among these beloved 
shadows. Carlyle never said a truer thing than this: 
" The saddest case I know, is that of a man who 
knows nothing which he cannot button in his pocket, 
and who believes nothing which he cannot eat and 
digest." To this let us add, the meanest man in the 
universe is one who would rob a beggar of his crutches 
without giving him something else to lean on. 

And then the pessimist ; he is a Vandal, too. 
Optimism is literally hest-ismj pessimism is literally 
iuorst-is/?i. A pessimist is a kill-joy. Not satisfied 
with taking the darkest possible view of himself, he 
is not willing that any other should have sunshine in 
his soul. He regards the church, society, the govern- 
ment, as all wrong. Christians are for the most part 
deceivers or self-deceived. The world is going to the 
bad. 

But what's the use or where's the gain ? Even if 
the world is going to the bad, we should get the 



VANDALS IN THE TEMPLE. 335 

most out of this brief life by making the best of it. 
The man who whistles at his task, turns out the best 
job. The secret of Luther's success lay largely in his 
optimistic views. At the darkest moment of the 
Reformation, when he was a refugee in the castle of 
the Wartburg, he was wont to say : " Come, Philip, 
let us lift our voices in the forty-sixth Psalm — God is 
our refuge and our strength ; therefore we will not 
fear, though the earth be removed and the mountains 
be carried into the sea. There is a river, the streams 
whereof shall make glad the city of God." 

There is another Vandal whose passion for 
destruction is aimed at the moral law. He is an Antt- 
nomian^ and his bete-noir is the Decalogue. The Ten 
Commandments are too Puritanical for him. He 
would loosen the sanctions of the Sabbath law by 
permitting many forms of work which God has for- 
bidden, and allowing all common recreations on the 
Lord's Day. He has liberal views of marriage and 
divorce, and regards the seventh commandment as a 
relic of a hide-bound age. The old-fashioned rule of 
industry, honest work, honest wages, is quite too an- 
tiquated for him. He sees nothing wrong in the pool- 
room or in stock-gambling. His motto is, " Quick 
transit to a fortune." 

And the sorrow of it is, that some who teach these 
ethical modifications are ministers of the Gospel 
of Christ. They are not builders, but destroyers. 
They deceive and mislead. The loose views of 
social purity, of Sabbath observance, and of the 
rights of property, which prevail in our time, are 
largely due to such teaching as this. 

We are reminded of the cornet who led the British 
to Tel-el-Kebir. I<" was an all-night march through the 



336 VANDALS IN THE TEMPLE. 

wilderness. The duty of directing this march was as- 
signed to a young cornet just out of the training school. 
He rode before the army all night on his camel, watch- 
ing the stars and consulting the compass, until toward 
daybreak the neighing of horses was heard. Yonder 
was Tel-el-Kebir. At the first volley, the young cornet 
fell. " I am going, General," said he ; ** but didn't I 
lead them straight ?" Blessed is the man who, being 
appointed as a teacher, can say, "I led them straight." 
It must needs be that offenses come, but woe be unto 
that man by whom they come ; it were better for him 
that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that 
he were drowned in the depth of the sea. 

The best known vandal of our time, however, 
is the neologist, whose word is, *' Ring out the old, 
ring in the new ! " It is enough for him that a truth 
or a principle belongs to the past. Out upon it! He 
forgets that all the most gracious things in the uni- 
verse are old, and that God himself is oldest of all. 
Do you remember the pathetic words of King Lear, 
who, when all had forsaken him, turned to the stars 
and asked compassion of them, "Since ye yourselves 
are old " ? It is too bad that these scholarly gentle- 
men who clamor against the past cannot refuse to 
breathe old-fashioned air or drink " traditional " 
spring water. 

We hold to the traditional view of God ; that he 
is an infinite personality, with eyes to see, a heart to 
pity, and hands stretched forth to help ; a God who 
permits us to say, "Abba, Father." But this view, 
they say, is superannuated, for God is an all-pervading 
force, a rare and infinite energy, impersonal law. 

We hold to the traditional view of Christ, — with 
the sinners of past centuries, who have all cried for 



VANDALS IN THE TEMPLE. 337 

mercy, and looking toward the cross have seen his 
hands stretched out, and have heard him say, " Thy 
sins be forgiven thee." But from Andover comes the 
word, that there must be a restatement of the doc- 
trine of Christ ; the incarnation, the vicarious atone- 
ment, the literal resurrection, are to be shelved with 
the Ptolemaic view of the universe. And we stand 
bereft like the Magdalene, saying, "Ye have taken 
away my Lord, and I know not where ye have laid 
him." 

We hold to the traditional view of the Bible ; we 
believe as our fathers have believed from the begin- 
ning until now, that the Scriptures were written by 
holy men as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and 
that they are true, and only true from the beginning 
to the end. But the voice of the Vandal is lifted, to 
say, "Your Bible is a bundle of fables and folk-lore." 
God pity us ; what then shall we do ? And what a 
sweet and helpful friend is this who takes away our 
only rule of faith and practice ! The wrecker kindles 
a false light on the shore, but, seeking only plunder, 
gives decent burial to the dead. Here is a wrecker, 
however, who tosses back his victims upon the merci- 
less waves of a sea of unbelief. He destroys, and 
builds not ; he curses, and blesses not ; he laughs 
gleefully at the despair of souls. 

If the Vandals were to have their way, what then ? 
No God! no Christ! no Bible! Here is a sunless 
world. When Jean Paul Richter felt himself drifting 
into a barren and joyless infidelity, his course was 
momentarily arrested by a vision of a dim figure say- 
ing, " God is dead." If these great truths which our 
fathers have cherished, and which the great multi- 
tude of believers cherish still, were to pass from us, 



338 VANDALS IN THE TEMPLE. 

the whole world would be at odds and ends. The 
music of the spheres would cease, and men would re- 
lapse into the barbarism from which the Gospel has 
delivered them. 

But these are false forebodings. The Vandal's 
work is vain. The temple rises despite his work of 
ruthless and passionate destruction. 

"A charmed life old Goodness hath; 
The tares may perish, 
But the grain is not for death." 

But, friend, look to it that you be a builder and 
not a destroyer only. The axe is in your hand for 
weal or woe. Are you lifting it against the carved 
work or against the thick trees ? When we lie upon 
our death beds, we shall question ourselves like this: 
"What good have I done in the world? Have I 
stretched the helping hand ? Have I put a cup of 
cold water to thirsty lips ? Have I contributed to the 
sum total of truth and goodness ? Have I revered 
duty and righteousness ? Have I thought and believed 
and done as conscience bade me? Have I followed 
in the footsteps of him who went about doing good ? 
Have I cut down beams and pillars and made carved 
work for the temple ? Is the world better for my 
living in it? * 

"There are lonely hearts to cherish, 

While the days are going by. 

There are weary souls who perish, 

While the days are going by. 

*' If a smile we can renew, 

While our journey we pursue, 
O the good we all may do, 

While the days are going by." 



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